Topline
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., introduced an amendment to the House bill that would provide more than $26 billion in aid to Israel to fund “space laser technology” to deploy on the U.S.’ southern border—most likely referring to a real Israeli laser defense system that is based on the ground, not a satellite-mounted energy beam like the conspiracy theory she famously pushed in 2018.
Greene also demanded the U.S. finish the border wall and build its own Iron Dome missile system in a ... [+]
Key Facts
Greene’s amendment is likely referring to the Iron Beam, a high energy laser weapon developed by Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
“I’ve previously voted to fund space lasers for Israel’s defense,” Green wrote in a social media post on Wednesday, adding America needs “the same type of defense for our border that Israel has and proudly uses.”
However, the Iron Beam is not a “space laser”—it is a ground-based laser gun controlled by operators in a command center, which was demonstrated in a video published by the Wall Street Journal in 2022.
Experts told the Journal the weapon could be much cheaper than the Iron Dome system that Israel currently uses to intercept short-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon: A single Iron Dome missile can cost more than $50,000, while the Iron Beam would only cost about $2 per firing.
The U.S. provided $1.3 billion to further develop the Iron Beam after passing the first Israel aid bill after the Oct. 7 attacks, and the new bill would provide another $4 billion for the energy weapon, part of a $26 billion aid package.
The Iron Beam is not yet operational in Israel and was not used to repel the Iranian drone attack last weekend.
News Peg
In the wake of the Iranian drone attack on Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson released the text of two aid bills that would send a total of $95 billion to Ukraine and Israel. Greene, who is leading a charge to oust Johnson from his position as speaker, immediately introduced three amendments to the bill on Wednesday. One would set aside funds for the “development of space laser technology on the southwest border,” while the other two amendments would provide funding to build an Iron Dome and “complete construction of the border wall. Greene introduced even more amendments to the Ukraine bill, including calls to redirect the funds to build the border wall or assist the victims of the East Palestine train disaster. Other amendments prohibit funding Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelensky resigns, until Ukraine bans abortion, or until Ukraine shuts down “bio-laboratories”—referring to a conspiracy theory pushed that likely originated in Russia. She included some outlandish requests, including an amendment that would require all members of Congress who vote in favor of the bill to “conscript in the Ukrainian military,” and another that would direct President Joe Biden to withdraw from NATO. Greene’s office did not return a request for comment from Forbes.
Key Background
Greene previously gained notoriety after Media Matters, a left-wing media research firm, found a now-deleted Facebook post where she put forward a conspiracy theory that the devastating Camp Fire that broke out in Butte County, California, was caused by a laser fired from space. Greene claimed that witnesses saw “lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires,” which she believed were caused by “space solar generators” that beam energy back down to earth. Greene posited that this radical new energy source was the result of an investment from “Rothschild, Inc”—bringing up the Jewish banking family that often figures in antisemitic conspiracy theories. However, no space solar generators are currently orbiting the Earth, and a NASA report published in January found the technology won’t be ready to operate until 2050. Greene’s post was widely mocked after the Media Matters report, with her detractors referring to the theory as a “Jewish space laser” due to the Rothschild connection. In the past, Greene has faced substantial criticism due to her past promotion of conspiracy theories, including the QAnon movement—which she claimed she stopped supporting in 2018.