Health Secretary Kennedy said Arabs do not produce science at a Michigan rally. Nobel records contradict the claim.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a Michigan Republican event on Monday that Arabs do not produce science, a claim that drew widespread condemnation and is contradicted by the record of Nobel and other prizes.
Kennedy spoke to the Kent County Republican Party in Grand Rapids while campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who is running against Arab-American Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Discussing the Muslim Brotherhood, Kennedy said there are 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they do not produce science or literature and do not win the Nobel, Fields or Wolf prizes.
Nobel Prize records contradict the claim. Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, and Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. Several Arab laureates have also won the Nobel Peace Prize, The New Arab reported. Palestinian-American chemist Omar Yaghi shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year, broadcaster Mehdi Hasan and others noted. Michigan has the largest share of residents reporting Arab ancestry of any state, about 2.2%, according to Census Bureau data cited by Newsweek.
Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez said he was relieved that Zewail, his late colleague, did not have to hear the comments. Common Dreams reported calls for Kennedy’s firing. The reports reviewed did not include a response from Kennedy, the Health Department or Rogers’ campaign. The remarks come a week before the Nov. 3 election in a tight race for the open Senate seat, in which the Muslim Brotherhood has become a campaign issue. El-Sayed has disavowed the group.
Information for this report was provided by Al Jazeera, Newsweek, The New Arab, The New Republic and Common Dreams.