U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered sweeping remarks about Arabs and Muslims while appearing at a Republican campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday, saying that “500 million Arabs” do not “produce science.”
Kennedy made the remarks while discussing the Muslim Brotherhood after referencing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who has raised the organization during his campaign against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed has denied having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and has publicly disavowed the group.
“Mike Rogers was talking about the Muslim Brotherhood. That’s something I can talk about,” Kennedy said.
“Talking about the Muslim Brotherhood is not Islamophobia,” he added.
Kennedy went on to describe people living under the organization’s influence as being inside a “death cult” and immersed in what he called an ideology of “victimization, of murder, of genocide.”
Kennedy then said: “There’s 500 million Arabs in the world. And yet they don’t produce science. They don’t win the Nobel Prize. They don’t win the Fields Prize. They don’t win the Wolf Prize. They don’t produce literature.”
Kennedy’s assertion about Nobel winners is contradicted by the Nobel Prize’s own records. Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, while Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. Yemeni journalist and activist Tawakkol Karman shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
The remarks came in Michigan, which has the highest share of residents reporting Arab ancestry of any state, at about 2.2 percent, according to 2024 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Newsweek reached out to the Rogers and El-Sayed campaigns for comment on Kennedy’s remarks.
Muslim Brotherhood Becomes Issue in Michigan Senate Race
The Muslim Brotherhood has become a contentious late-stage issue in the Senate race between Rogers and El-Sayed, with Rogers and his Republican allies seeking to link the Democrat to the organization.
Kennedy has also previously spoken publicly about the Muslim Brotherhood. Earlier in October, he deleted a social media post in which he accused the organization of conducting a Qatar-funded global propaganda campaign, according to The Jerusalem Post.
El-Sayed has repeatedly rejected the allegations, including publicly disavowing the Muslim Brotherhood.
The issue surfaced at the candidates’ October 21 debate, when Rogers raised alleged connections between El-Sayed and the organization, and El-Sayed responded that questioning his commitment to the U.S. Constitution was “shameful.”
El-Sayed also addressed the issue at a campaign event earlier this month when he was directly asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Sure. Yeah, absolutely,” El-Sayed responded before pushing back against the premise of the question and arguing that it suggested his Muslim faith could mean he held divided loyalties.
Rogers continued pressing the issue during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. Host Kristen Welker noted El-Sayed’s disavowal and questioned Rogers about his past remarks concerning engagement with members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Rogers argued that El-Sayed had not adequately addressed questions surrounding the organization.
Kennedy Was in Michigan for HHS Event
Earlier Monday, Kennedy was in Grand Rapids on official business, visiting Corewell Health to promote an initiative aimed at improving hospital food and nutrition education.
Kennedy said nearly 300 hospitals, including 21 Corewell facilities, had joined a pledge to prioritize whole foods, limit highly processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and increase fiber-rich whole grains.
The HHS secretary has made nutrition a key part of his efforts to address chronic disease in the United States.
His appearance at Corewell Health came before he joined Rogers and Republican gubernatorial candidate John James at the campaign rally.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins