US’s RFK Jr claims Arabs ‘don’t produce science’: Why he’s very, very wrong

Key Points:

• US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked controversy by denying Arab contributions to science, mathematics, and literature during a campaign event supporting Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race.
• Critics condemned Kennedy's remarks as racist, Islamophobic, and factually incorrect, highlighting significant Arab achievements from the Islamic Golden Age, including advances in algebra, optics, surgery, and the founding of the oldest university.
• Numerous Arabs and Arab-descended individuals have won prestigious international awards such as the Nobel Prize and Fields Medal, disproving Kennedy’s claim that Arabs do not receive such honors.
• Prominent voices, including vaccine scientist Peter Hotez and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, emphasized the vital role of Arab scholars in preserving and advancing knowledge through history.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Kennedy’s removal, stating his comments dehumanize millions and promote dangerous white supremacist narratives amid rising anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in the US.