It’s not Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s official remit — he is the secretary of health and human services, not secretary of state or national security advisor. And given some of his dubious remarks, I was pleasantly surprised to find him talking sensibly about Israel and those who would destroy it. More of his recent remarks on this subject can be found here: “RFK Jr. Defends Israel from ‘Genocide’ Slander,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, June 30, 2026:
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week defended Israel against accusations of genocide, telling Fox News host Jesse Watters that the Middle East’s “real genocide” has been the decline of Jewish and Christian populations across the region over the past several decades.
“There was a million Jews in the Middle East in the Arab countries” in 1948, Kennedy said. “Today, there’s about 15,000 left.” He added that Christians made up roughly one-fifth of the region’s population in 1948, a share that has since fallen to about five percent, with virtually no Jews now remaining in Jordan or Gaza.
Kennedy contrasted those declines with the growth of Israel’s Arab population, which he said rose from 150,000 in 1948 to nearly two million today, about 20 percent of the country’s population. “If Israel wanted to commit a genocide against Palestinians, they could do it in a minute,” he said. “It’s doing the opposite … If you want to see where a real genocide is happening, it’s not in Israel. It’s happening in all the nations around it.”
He noted that Gaza’s Christian population has fallen by about 80 percent over the past decade.
Kennedy’s remarks come as Israel faces mounting international scrutiny over its military campaign in Gaza, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and saw about 250 taken hostage. Some governments, human rights organizations and legal experts have accused Israel of genocide — allegations Israel has repeatedly rejected as false and politically motivated….
Kennedy’s comments echo arguments made by many supporters of Israel, who point to regional demographic trends and to Israel’s civilian-warning measures — including leaflets, calls and texts before airstrikes — as evidence against the genocide accusations. Critics counter that demographic trends elsewhere do not resolve the legal questions surrounding Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Among the demographic trends that Israel’s supporters point to are the remarkable increase in the Arab population in Israel. In 1949, there were 160,000 Arabs In Israel; today there are two million. And in 1967, when Israel took over Gaza, there were 356,000 Arabs in the Strip; today, there are 2.1 million. Genocide? What genocide? Hamas claims that 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza. The IDF believes it has killed, as of July 1, 2026, close to 30,000 terrorists, mainly from Hamas, but also some from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In addition, there have been many examples of Gazan civilians that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad killed with missiles they fired that fell short, landing in Gaza. That was what happened at the Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17, 2023, where a missile that Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired landed in the hospital parking lot. According to Hamas, 471 Gazan civilians were killed in that single strike. The U.S., the UK, France, and Canada all agreed with Israel that a missile that Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired that fell short was responsible for their deaths. In fact, so many Palestinian Islamic Jihad missiles have misfired and landed in Gaza that Hamas held a meeting with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders and excoriated them for their defective missiles. At least two thousand Gazans have died from the missiles that Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired that fell short, landing in Gaza.
Now, let us do the math. First, we subtract the number of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad combatants the IDF believes it has killed, and those civilians in Gaza whom misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad missiles killed. Do the math. 73,000 minus 30,000 equals 43,000. 43,000 minus 2,000 (Palestinian Islamic Jihad missiles falling short) equals 41,000 civilians killed. The civilian-to-combatant ratio of those killed is 41,000:30,000, which is much less than 2:1. According to the UN, in all the wars fought since World War II, the average civilian-to-combatant ratio has been 9:1. In Iraq, the American military managed to get that ratio down to 4:1. But no other military has done what the IDF has done, in lowering that ratio to 1.36:1.
Now that is a fact that Robert Kennedy, Jr. can make good use of, the next time he decides to speak about Israel. He’s rejected the malevolent charges of “apartheid” and “genocide.” He’s reminded us that Christian numbers have been greatly reduced almost everywhere in the Middle East, going down even in Bethlehem, but risen in Israel. He’s told us about the 850,00 Jews who after 1948 fled or were expelled from Arab lands, so that now fewer than 15,000 are left. He’s also reminded us that in 1948, Christians made up 20% of the region’s population, and now that percentage has fallen to about five percent (most of those are in Egypt and Lebanon).
“There was a million Jews in the Middle East in the Arab countries” in 1948, Kennedy said. “Today, there’s about 15,000 left.”
Actually, the decline in the Jewish population in Arab countries is even more dramatic: there are only 4,000 Jews left in the Arab lands, mostly in Morocco and Tunisia. Kennedy added that Christians made up roughly one-fifth of the region’s population in 1948, a share that has since fallen to about five percent, with virtually no Christians now remaining in Jordan or Gaza.
And Kennedy’s key sentence bears repeating:
“If Israel wanted to commit a genocide against Palestinians, they could do it in a minute,” he said. “It’s doing the opposite … If you want to see where a real genocide is happening, it’s not in Israel. It’s happening in all the nations around it.”
Kennedy’s clear-sightedness on Israel, given the sustained campaign against the Jewish state, both surprised and heartened me. I thought you’d feel the same.
Barney Shane says
The ratio is less than 1. You left off one big number of deaths seen in any population: natural deaths. Cancer, other diseases, even murder, etc etc. So that removes a lot of deaths from your calculation. Check with an actuary for those known tables
Hugh Fitzgerald says
You are right. Thank you for bringing that to our collective attention.
Any actuaries out there who might help?
Barney Shane says
Not sure but my dad was though he passed away. It’s been in many articles at jihadwatch though i believe. I think it’s 8000 a month deaths from natural causes but don’t quote me on it
Barney Shane says
Check JNS: https://share.google/PQQhSj3JuI4acxhGm
Hugh Fitzgerald says
You are right. Thank you for bringing my lapse to our collective attention.
ploome says
the accusations against Israel have nothing to do with facts on the ground
it its all about antisemitism
from the arabs, from muslims, from Europe and from the United Nations
and somehow, all the outrageous and farcical accusations are taken at face valued and then amplified
somehistory says
It’s much like the abusive husband….making repeated claims against his long-suffering wife… accusing her of not taking care of the house, not taking care of the kids, dinner always late, no one else would put up with her, while he insults, ridicules, isolates, beats and abuses her.
No number of people like Mr. Kennedy, no stats being produced to prove the lies, no reliable evidence against them, will cause the muzzlims and their supporters to tell the Truth.
Walter Sieruk says
It really should be remembered that before September 11th 2001 that anti-Israel jihad , Hezbollah murdered more Americans than al Qaeda did. Also before and after October 7th 2023 the number of Americans combine murderd by Hamas is likewise a long list. Further , the Muslim terrorists of ISIS would like to kill both Americans and Israelis
To become specific about America, sadly, the terrible truth is that many jihadists,,Muslim terrorists , are already in the United States, Either “homegrown” or foreign jihadists who have infiltrated America through Northern and Southern US porous borders. Those Muslim terrorists insidious death inflecting jihad schemes are very dangerous . Therefore , the average US citizen should bot live in fear or be afraid to go to different places and do different things but we should also be aware of out surrounding to notice anything that don’t look quite right , as in “what’s wrong with this picture ?” Then is something questionable is observed, then inform a police officer about it,
As the Office of Homeland Security has as its motto. “If you see something say something.” Likewise , the wisdom spoken by Thomas Jefferson apply even more now then in his own time . For Mr. Jefferson had declared “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed..
jewdog says
In a way I’m not surprised. The Kennedy family, excluding old Joe, of course, has been very pro-Israel for many years. It’s a family tradition. JFK Jr. can take his place alongside Fetterman as a profile in courage, as President Kenndy would have called it.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Were JFK Jr’s views on Israel known?
Yeah, looks like people like RFK Jr are the only classic Libs who are still pro-Israel. Which makes me wonder about his estranged clan, most of who have disowned him. Do they also toe their new party line of being anti-Israel?
I’m all for (R) & (D) doing a swap: (D) gives us the RFKs, Fettermans, Tony Dokoupils, et al, while they can take the Tucker Carlsons, Candace Owens’, Nick Fuentes’, Jack Posobiecs, Mike Cernavichs, et al
R G says
I knew obviously about Candace, Tehran Tucker, Nazi Nick but I didn’t know that Cernovich and Posobiecs had gone anti semitic? What are they saying?
Mockingjay says
Oh yes…Jack Posobiec is on the hate Israel train with Steve Bannon. All you have to do is watch Bannon’s show when Jack is on discussing Israel and you will see. It’s sickening.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
At the beginning of the Gaza War, Posobiec was calling for Israel to go easy on the civilians. Easy for him to say: some Americans (talking about ones on the Right) have one set of rules for the US and another for the rest of the world: after 9/11, I recall people who called for America to nuke Mecca
Mockingjay, Bannon’s volte-face has shocked me: I used to be a big admirer of his, particularly on his views on Beijing & the Deep State. He was also the Trump advisor who kept advocating the move of the capital to Jerusalem. I just wonder what got to him
Matt Walsh has also gone from being ambivalent to downright anti-Israel, and Knowles too ain’t far behind. That’s why the Daily Wire is losing support: Ben’s supporters can’t stand the other 2, and antisemites who might support the Daily Wire can’t stand Ben. Take out both groups, and what’s left?
Cynthia says
He’s an upstanding citizen willing to buck his family and party for the truth. Americans don’t want to hear about health or improper vaccines. But he unabashedly exposes the corruption and greed in our country. That makes him many enemies.
Who knows how many in Congress are bought off by big Pharma, insurance and big food companies that are happy to poison us for profit
Walter Sieruk says
With this article is should be remembered that two of the main mottos of that belligerent combative hostile Islamic regime of Iran is “Death to America “and “Death to Israel. Likewise that Islamic regime officially also refers to America as ”The Great Satan” and Israel as “The little Satan.”