Marjorie Greene draws ire on right as Republican Jewish Coalition condemns ‘anti-Semitic comments’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has become a top target of Democrats just two weeks into her House term, but now the Georgia Republican is drawing condemnation on the right over allegations of past anti-Semitic statements.

The Republican Jewish Coalition denounced her previous behavior as “deeply offensive,” while the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, which includes liberal and conservative groups, decried her “antisemitic canards.”

“The Republican Jewish Coalition has always spoken out strongly against antisemitic comments from individuals on both sides of the political aisle, and we do not hesitate to do so again in the case of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,” the coalition said in statement released Friday.

The rebukes over alleged anti-Semitism could well trigger a chain reaction in the Republican Party. The party prides itself on its unwavering support for Israel, a unifying issue for the GOP as it prepares to defend former President Donald Trump’s historic pro-Jerusalem initiatives.

The coalition said it supported Republican John Cowan against Ms. Greene in the 2020 primary race, marking only the second time the coalition has gotten involved in a contest at the primary level, based on her “video diatribes” and “bizarre political conspiracy theories.”

“The RJC has never supported or endorsed Marjorie Taylor Greene,” the coalition said. “We are offended and appalled by her comments and her actions. We opposed her as a candidate and we continue to oppose her now. She is far outside the mainstream of the Republican Party, and the RJC is working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps in this matter.”

Ms. Greene did not respond immediately publicly to the RJC rebuke, but in a statement last week, she defended herself against a CNN report on her promoting various social-media posts endorsing violence against Democrats.

“Over the years, I’ve had teams of people manage my pages,” she said in a Jan. 26 statement on Twitter. “Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet.”

The progressive group Media Matters for America unearthed a 2018 post on Ms. Greene’s Facebook page in which she shared a 2015 anti-refugee video that includes a quote from a former British nationalist leader saying that “an unholy alliance of leftists, capitalists and Zionist supremacists have schemed to promote immigration and miscegenation,” according to Vox.

She has since removed the post. In another since-deleted 2018 Facebook post, Ms. Greene speculated that the California wildfires were caused by lasers from space funded by Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility. She noted that the PG&E board included Roger Kimmel and that he was “also Vice Chairman of Rothschild Inc., international investment banking firm.”

Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild banking family date back to the Napoleonic era.

“Could that cause a fire? Hmmm, I don’t know. I hope not! That wouldn’t look so good for PG&E, Rothschild Inc, Solaren or Jerry Brown who sure does seem fond of PG&E,” Ms. Greene said in the post dated Nov. 17, 2018.

In a Friday statement, the Conference of the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations leadership said it was “outraged by the statements, past and present, of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

“She routinely traffics in unfounded conspiracy theories that are often antisemitic in nature,” said the conference. “As an avid supporter of QAnon, Representative Greene espouses antisemitic canards, such as placing blame on ‘the Rothschilds’ for recent wildfires in California and declaring that ‘Zionist supremacists’ are behind supposed nefarious plots.”

The conference includes liberal groups such as the Anti-Defamation League as well as the Republican-friendly American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Zionist Organization of America.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, reportedly plans to meet with Ms. Greene.

“These comments are deeply disturbing, and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,” McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar told Axios in a Wednesday statement.

Ms. Greene previously had drawn outrage for promoting posts about the QAnon conspiracy theory and an allegation that the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a “false flag,” or staged, operation, prompting calls from Parkland survivors for her resignation.

She appeared to respond to those allegations in a Sunday tweet: “Let me reiterate to the ‘perfect’ people in the media, who have never reported conspiracy theories (Trump Russia Collusion) and to the ‘perfect’ Democrats, who have never endorsed violent attacks (Antifa-BLM riots), your hypocrisy knows no bounds.”

In its statement, the RJC said it backed her primary opponent because it found her “past behavior deeply offensive.”

“She repeatedly used offensive language in long online video diatribes, promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories, and refused to admit a mistake after posing for photos with a long-time white supremacist leader,” the coalition said. “It is unfortunate that she prevailed in her election despite this terrible record.”