RFK: Hamas turned Gaza into a ‘death cult,’ Israel is a ‘bounty’ to Western civilization

US health secretary rejects allegations of racism following controversial remarks about Arabs, arguing that the Muslim Brotherhood has undermined Islamic civilization while lauding Israel as a beacon of democracy and innovation.

By World Israel News Staff

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has published an extensive defense of Israel and the Jewish people on Friday, accusing the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies of spreading antisemitism across the world while rejecting criticism of his recent remarks about Arab contributions to science and culture.

In a roughly 3,700-word statement posted on X on Friday, Kennedy praised Israel’s economic and technological achievements, credited Jews with extraordinary contributions to Western civilization, and accused Islamist movements of promoting violence, authoritarianism and hatred of Jews.

The statement followed widespread criticism of remarks Kennedy made Monday while campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan, where he claimed that the Arab world had largely ceased producing scientific and literary achievements.

“There’s 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don’t produce science,” Kennedy declared at the rally. He also noted the relative dearth of winners of major international scientific prizes from Arabic-speaking countries.

The remarks drew condemnation from civil rights organizations, scientists and Democratic politicians, who pointed to numerous Arab Nobel laureates and internationally recognized researchers.

Kennedy, however, insisted Friday that his comments had been misrepresented.

“My speech was not a critique of Arabs or Islam, but of Islamism,” he wrote, describing political Islam as an ideology promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Criticizing Islamism is neither Islamophobic nor racist,” he added.

Kennedy accused major American news organizations of omitting important context from their coverage.

He argued that Islamic civilization had once been a global leader in mathematics, medicine, philosophy, astronomy and literature, but that the rise of political Islam had contributed to the decline of intellectual freedom in much of the Muslim world.

The health secretary devoted considerable attention to the Muslim Brotherhood, accusing the movement of encouraging authoritarianism, suppressing independent thought and promoting hostility toward Western democratic values.

He also said that the Brotherhood had developed an international propaganda apparatus targeting Jews and Israel, with roots in its historical relationships with Nazi Germany.

Kennedy claimed that Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and other German propagandists had helped establish the Brotherhood’s communications operations during the 1930s and subsequent decades.

“The massive influx of money from Iran and the Gulf States starting in the 1990s turned this operation into an amplifier of unmatched power that makes Goebbels look like a piker,” he wrote.

The allegations concerning the financing and development of a unified international propaganda network were presented by Kennedy without independent verification.

Kennedy argued that this purported campaign had helped convince audiences around the world that Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza, while diverting attention from the persecution of minorities by Islamist movements.

He also accused Hamas of using international assistance to build military infrastructure rather than develop Palestinian civilian institutions.

“Europe used its money to rebuild 17 nations. Palestinians couldn’t build themselves even one,” Kennedy wrote, comparing foreign assistance to Palestinians with the post-World War II Marshall Plan.

The comparison formed part of a broader contrast Kennedy drew between Gaza and Israel.

Describing Israel as a small country with few natural resources, he praised its transformation into an advanced economy and technological power despite decades of regional hostility.

He called Israel one of the “bounties bestowed by Jews on Western civilization,” and “a robust and heroic outpost for freedom and Western values,” emphasizing its democratic institutions, religious freedoms and protections for women and minorities.

Kennedy also praised Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens for participating in the country’s political, judicial and military institutions.

His most emphatic statements, however, concerned the contributions of Jews to humanity.

“There is no ethnic or religious group that has contributed more than Jews to the welfare of humanity or to the advancement of liberal democracy,” he declared.

Kennedy noted that Jews represent approximately 0.2% of the global population but have received, according to his figures, roughly 22% of Nobel Prizes awarded since 1901.

He cited prominent Jewish scientists, including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, alongside Jewish entrepreneurs and technology pioneers associated with companies such as Google, Meta, Oracle and Intel.

“Relative to their proportion of the population, the astonishing contributions by Jews have been breathtaking,” he wrote.

Kennedy also praised Jewish influence on American medicine, entertainment, philanthropy and economic development, arguing that these achievements should inspire admiration rather than hostility.

“In a rational universe, wouldn’t non-Jews be expected to celebrate these contributions with gratitude?” he asked.

He then contrasted those achievements with a list of violent practices associated with Islamist extremism, including suicide bombings, hijackings, beheadings, attacks on religious minorities and the bombing of buses and crowded restaurants.

“If you want to understand the Muslim Brotherhood’s vision for society, look no further than Gaza. Hamas, which rules Gaza, is the Palestine branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Kennedy wrote.

“Instead of building a nation, Hamas has transformed Gaza into a death cult wallowing in victimhood, nursing aggrievements, addicted to violence, resentments, and yearning for a seventh-century miasma.”

“Hamas nurses Palestinian infants from birth on genocidal hatred of ALL Jews—not just Zionists—and indoctrinates children in the savagery and unspeakable barbarism that the world witnessed on October 7.”

“Why does the world hate Jews and embrace Islamists?” he wrote, lamenting the rise in antisemitism globally.

Kennedy’s defense also included a renewed attack on Abdul El-Sayed, the Egyptian American Muslim Democrat running against Rogers in Michigan’s closely contested Senate race.

Kennedy questioned El-Sayed’s past associations with Muslim organizations and demanded that he issue a more explicit condemnation of the Muslim Brotherhood and its ideology.

El-Sayed has repeatedly denied allegations of Brotherhood ties and has publicly disavowed the organization.

The controversy comes just days before Tuesday’s US midterm elections, with Michigan’s Senate contest drawing national attention.

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