Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouts at journalists as she goes through security outside the House chamber on Capitol Hill, Jan. 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Among Greene\u2019s critics are right-wing and centrist Jewish groups that do not frequently criticize Republican lawmakers or elected officials at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never back down,\u201d Greene said in a defiant statement Friday afternoon, one day after revelations of one of her conspiracy theory-filled Facebook posts from 2018 thrust the term \u201cJewish space lasers\u201d into public discourse.<\/p>\n
In the post, the freshman congresswoman from Georgia theorized that the Rothschild family was involved in starting California wildfires using lasers from space. Invoking conspiratorial control by the Rothschild baking family over world events is a centuries-old anti-Semitic stereotype, and it is also a theme in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory that Greene has promoted.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement condemning Greene and saying that it is \u201cworking closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps\u201d in demonstrating that Greene is \u201cfar outside the mainstream of the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n
The forceful statement represented an advance over the group\u2019s comments Friday morning, in which it emphasized that it had supported her Republican primary opponent and then not backed her. The group supported a successful primary challenge last year to Steve King, a Republican congressman from Iowa who had a string of associations with white supremacists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RJC has never supported or endorsed Marjorie Taylor Greene,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe are offended and appalled by her comments and her actions. We opposed her as a candidate and we continue to oppose her now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also on Friday afternoon, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations released a statement condemning Greene. It is rare for the conference, which represents groups with a wide range of ideological orientations, to speak out directly against an elected official.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are outraged by the statements, past and present, of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. She routinely traffics in unfounded conspiracy theories that are often anti-Semitic in nature,\u201d the group said in its statement. \u201cThere must be a swift and commensurate response from congressional leadership making clear that this conduct cannot and will not be allowed to debase our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewish groups are far from alone in pressing for action to be taken against Greene. Also this week, video emerged of Greene harassing a survivor of a 2018 school shooting with allegations that the shooting did not take place, and several of her colleagues in Congress announced that they do not feel safe working with her. Cori Bush, a freshman congresswoman from Missouri who is Black, said she would move her office away from Greene\u2019s after multiple altercations.<\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon, Greene signaled \u2014 in a statement titled \u201cA Message to the Mob\u201d \u2014 that she felt emboldened by the criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery attack, every lie, every smear strengthens my base of support at home and across the country because people know the truth and are fed up with the lies,\u201d the statement said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s people over politicians. It\u2019s people over Big Money PACs. It\u2019s people over powerful elite corporations and the Silicon Valley cartel who are trying to cancel all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cI will never back down. I will never give up. Because I am one of you. And I will always represent you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Democratic members of Congress say Greene should be expelled from Congress, a move that would require a two-thirds vote by her colleagues. That has happened only twice since the Civil War. Republican leaders this week appointed her to the House\u2019s education committee.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/marjorietaylorgreene-1536x853-1.jpg\")