Marjorie Taylor Greene Explains ‘Jewish Space Lasers' Remark
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has attempted to clarify comments she made blaming the 2018 California wildfires on 'Jewish Space Lasers' in a since-deleted Facebook post.
Responding to accusations of anti-semitism during a conversation with the Young Turks' Cenk Uygur, Greene hit out at a 'false headline' from a 2021 'hit piece' which she claims distorted her words about the cause of the wildfires.
In the Facebook post, Greene speculated that the fires were caused by 'lasers or blue beams of light' created by 'space solar generators' owned by businesses funded by the Rothschild investment group.
The post was widely mocked and went viral for its promotion of conspiracy theories, and Green was eventually paraphrased as blaming 'Jewish Space Lasers' for the wildfires.
When asked about the incident by Uygur, Greene responded: 'I never said Jewish space lasers. That's a lie. Yeah, it's a lie and I really am tired of people perpetuating the lie.'
'So what do you mean you didn't say it?' the host responded. 'I'm trying to clear it up.'
Greene replied: 'I've never said that. I never said that statement in my life but there was someone that wrote an article and that was the headline and that's what they created. It was early January of 2021 when I first came into Congress. So it was an entire hit piece against me and it was a statement I had never said in my life. Until I saw it trending on Twitter attached to my name.'
When asked if the statement came from her account or not, Greene said: 'Of course that was my Facebook account but I never said 'Jewish space lasers' and I never blamed Jewish people or Israel for anything in my Facebook post. And you can read my Facebook post and it's clear and obvious.'
Greene has been forced to deny the 'space laser' allegations on a number of occasions, to the point that she even dedicated an entire chapter of her autobiography to defending herself from claims of anti-semitism arising from the controversy.
'My Savior is a Jewish carpenter who died on the cross for my sins, and I have no antisemitic sentiments whatsoever,' she wrote, referring to the now-infamous Facebook rant as a 'sarcastic social media post.'
But elsewhere in the book, she notes her support for Israel's Iron Beam laser missile defense system, and quips 'So, it turns out I actually do support Jewish space lasers.'
In March, the Representative for Georgia told BBC journalist Emily Maitlis to 'f--- off' when she asked her about the phrase.
'Tell us about Jewish space lasers,' Maitlis asked Greene.
'No,' she replied. 'Why don't you go talk about Jewish space lasers? Why don't you f--- off? How about that? Thanks.'
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