US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has drawn criticism over sweeping claims about Arab scientific and literary contributions after asserting that 500 million Arabs do not produce science or win major international prizes.
Kennedy made the remarks at a Republican campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday, while discussing the Muslim Brotherhood and the political controversy surrounding Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
“There’s 500 million Arabs in the world. And yet they don’t produce science,” Kennedy said, adding that Arabs do not win the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal or Wolf Prize, or produce literature.
However, records of Nobel Prize recipients contradict his assertion that Arabs have not won the prestigious awards. Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, while Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz received the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Yemeni journalist and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman also shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, providing another example of an Arab recipient of the international honour.
Kennedy’s remarks came amid an intensifying political dispute over alleged links between El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation the Democratic candidate has publicly disavowed.
Addressing the rally, Kennedy argued that discussing the Muslim Brotherhood did not amount to Islamophobia. He described people living under the organisation’s influence as being part of a “death cult” and associated its ideology with victimisation, murder and genocide.
The comments followed efforts by Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and his allies to make the Muslim Brotherhood a campaign issue in the contest against El-Sayed.
El-Sayed has rejected allegations of links to the organisation and has criticised attempts to question his loyalty to the United States on the basis of his Muslim faith.
During a campaign event earlier in October, El-Sayed agreed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood when directly asked, while challenging what he described as the implication that his religion placed his national allegiance in doubt.
The issue also featured during a televised debate between the candidates on October 21, with Rogers raising alleged connections and El-Sayed rejecting the accusations.
Kennedy was in Michigan earlier on Monday for an official visit to Corewell Health, where he promoted a federal initiative encouraging hospitals to improve food quality and nutrition education. He later joined Rogers and Republican gubernatorial candidate John James at the campaign rally.
Michigan is particularly significant in the controversy because it has the highest proportion of residents reporting Arab ancestry of any US state, at approximately 2.2 per cent, according to 2024 American Community Survey data cited in the report.
The remarks have placed Kennedy’s sweeping generalisation about an entire population alongside a documented record of Arab achievements in science and literature.
The development was reported by Newsweek in an article published on October 26, 2026, which examined Kennedy’s comments and the political dispute surrounding the Muslim Brotherhood in Michigan’s Senate race.
