Health secretary's sister denounces his remarks on Arabs

Kerry Kennedy, sister of US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said she is deeply ashamed of his remarks about Arabs, which she called false.

• Kennedy made the remarks at a Republican campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the US midterm elections.
• He said there are 500 million Arabs who do not produce science, win Nobel prizes, or produce literature.
• Kerry Kennedy, a human rights activist, said she feels deep shame over her brother's words, calling them false, cruel and insulting.
• She cited Arab Nobel laureates including chemists Omar Yaghi and Ahmed Zewail and novelist Naguib Mahfouz.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Kennedy's remarks as 'a textbook display of unvarnished racism and bigotry.'
• An Associated Press factcheck found that Arabs have won or been shortlisted for major prizes.