Fact Check: Is RFK Jr’s claim Arabs have made no contributions to science or literature true?

WASHINGTON, DC: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sparked criticism after claiming that Arabs do not contribute to science or literature and do not win major international awards.

Kennedy made the remarks at a Republican campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just days before the midterm elections. Let’s fact-check Kennedy’s claim and examine what the historical record shows.

Claim: RFK Jr said Arab societies do not produce science and literature

On Monday, October 26, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized Arab societies while speaking at a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan.

He told the crowd he was glad he arrived while Rogers was discussing the Muslim Brotherhood. Kennedy argued that the organization had introduced a dangerous ideology that departed from traditional Islam.

Kennedy then contrasted the group's influence with what he described as Islam's nearly 1,000-year "golden age," when Muslim societies made groundbreaking contributions to literature, science, medicine and engineering.

"There are 500 million Arabs in the world," he continued, "and yet they don't produce science, they don't win the Nobel Prize, they don't win the Fields prize [sic, Medal], they don't win the Wolf Prize, they don't produce literature."

Kennedy emphasized that societies during the "golden age" were "the first to make books" and alleged that the Muslim Brotherhood had destroyed that tradition.

He added, "They've created stagnant societies that do two things: hatred and war and victimization. They've let down their own people and destroyed those societies."

Fact Check: The claim is false

The claims are false. Arab scientists and writers have won major international awards, including Nobel Prizes.

Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei shared the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The award recognized their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes. ElBaradei previously served as the agency's director general.

Yemeni journalist, politician, and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. She became the first Yemeni and the first Arab woman to win the award. Sir Michael Atiyah, a mathematician of Lebanese descent, received the Fields Medal in 1966.

Yasser Arafat, the former head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with former Israeli Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. The award recognized their efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. Arafat died in 2004.

Former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

The award recognized their efforts to establish peace between Egypt and Israel following the Camp David Accords.