Setting the Record Straight on RFK, Jr. and Antisemitism

Many journalists, including some associated with major media outlets, are spreading a fictitious picture of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. without taking the time to listen to him directly, and without researching the origins of often slanderous allegations against him. One especially concerning example has been the labelling of RFK Jr. as an antisemite.

To the contrary, when one takes the time to listen to RFK speak about his perspectives on Israel, and his understanding of the history of the Jews, it is abundantly clear that he is an ally of the Jewish people, with a uniquely strong understanding of the importance of Israel as a Jewish state. One of the best such speeches (from July 2023) can be found on X.com at https://x.com/robertkennedyjr/status/1684749896333574144.

For America in general, but particularly for Jews, the fact that media outlets seem so confused about this man is distressing. As a registered independent, as a Jew, and as a research scientist who is by no means a die-hard fan of any politician, I still feel obligated to state that it is detrimental to the Jewish people to be misled about a prominent political figure who is actually our ally.

Let’s expose the two main (false) arguments that have been put forth to label RFK as antisemitic: First, that he claimed COVID-19 was ethnically targeted to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, and second, that he likened COVID-19 restrictions to living in Nazi Germany. 

The COVID-ethnicity matter originates from a scientific journal article in BMC Medicine, part of Springer Nature, entitled, “New insights into genetic susceptibility of COVID-19: an ACE2 and TMPRSS2 polymorphism analysis” by Yuan Hou of the Cleveland Clinic, Junfei Zhao of Columbia University and 8 more co-authors from the Cleveland Clinic (BMC Medicine 18, 216 [2020]). 

This peer-reviewed research found “unique genetic susceptibility across different populations” in the cell receptors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19 disease).  Of the eight groups that were isolated, African American and Europeans had the greatest number of detrimental genetic variants of the cell receptors, while Ashkenazi Jews and Asians had significantly fewer variants. In other words, genomic differences across ethnic groups can be involved with variations in vulnerability to COVID-19 disease and severity. This is a published, scientific reality.

That was the whole point of RFK’s comments, in which he was referring to the above paper and other research of this nature. He said, “COVID-19, there is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. It attacks certain races disproportionately. Because of genetic differentials among different races of the ACE2 receptor, COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. We don’t know if it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial and ethnic differential impact of it.”  

Far from being antisemitic, RFK was giving a general warning about the reality of genetic research demonstrating that different ethnic groups have measurably varied and potentially exploitable susceptibilities to diseases. When one recognizes the existence of scientific studies that are the basis of RFK’s comments, and listens to his full message, it becomes clear that his statements are coming from a position that is fundamentally pro-human and anti-eugenics, and certainly not antisemitic. In reporting this story, many journalists did not present background information about the relevant published research.

As regards Nazi Germany, RFK brought it up in a speech at a rally during COVID. The rally was about opposing COVID mandates, but RFK was speaking much more broadly about the rise of technologies and infrastructures that reach a whole new level of control beyond what was possible during the Nazi regime. 

Here is some of what he said leading up to and including the “Hitler’s Germany” comment: “What we are seeing today is what I call turn-key totalitarianism. They are putting in place all these technological mechanisms for control, that we have never seen before. It’s been the ambition of every totalitarian state since the beginning of mankind, to control every aspect of behavior, of conduct, of thought, and to obliterate dissent.  None of them have been able to do it. They didn’t have the technological capacity. Even in Hitler’s Germany you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did. Today the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so that none of us can run and none of us can hide.”

What part of this speech is antisemitic? One can debate the appropriateness of drawing comparisons to the conditions of Hitler’s Germany with current or potential future events, but these have nothing to do with antisemitism. For news reporters to clip and/or frame RFK’s speech to imply that he was comparing U.S. COVID policies to Nazi Germany, is simply false. Rather, RFK was expressing his concern about totalitarian control of citizens and his belief that the tools and placement of such control are expanding rapidly.

Claims that RFK is an antisemite are not based on reality. To verify this, one needs only to listen to his complete speeches directly. 

Claims that RFK is an antisemite are not based on reality. To verify this, one needs only to listen to his complete speeches directly. We must not let the mainstream media mislead Americans – certainly not Jews – into thinking he is antisemitic. My hope is that people will learn that RFK is a prominent political figure who has a deep understanding of the significance of Israel and the Jewish people. Going forward, he may have the potential to work for the benefit of Israel and the Jewish community. Please, let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot.

The Cleveland Clinic journal article may be found at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01673-z

Beth L. Klein, Ph.D., is an astrophysicist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA.