“They Can’t Take Your Integrity”: Councillor Rhonda Garad on Falling Prey to the Antisemitism Witch Hunt

The society-wide pressure not to speak out against the genocide Israel launched upon the Gaza Strip in October 2023 in Australia was instantaneous. This pressure required people not to raise the unbridled force Israel was pounding the people of Gaza with, it required that people not call for a ceasefire, and it required that everybody deem genocidal actions as self-defence.

So, when councillor Dr Rhonda Garad successfully moved a November 2023 motion in Greater Dandenong Council calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, it appeared as something of a miracle. But what Dr Garad didn’t realise at the time was that she had just made herself a target of the Israel lobby, and, as others have found, this can cost a person their career.

Garad, like many other figures who have dared to criticise the mass murder in the Gaza Strip that has continued on for 21 months now, has since become the subject of scrutiny, which has involved being called out on a number of social media posts that she had merely shared and not produced herself.

But the public hounding in the press and the pressure at council didn’t result in the silencing of Dr Garad, and in fact, as this coordinated campaign to discredit her as antisemitic has continued in the public realm, it has only served to strengthen the health professional’s resolve to continue raising her voice in calling out the gravest of all crimes now being carried out in Gaza on our watch.

Creating environments for dismissal

Dr Garad was not only serving on the Greater Dandenong Council in November 2023, at the time that she commenced speaking out about Israel’s genocidal actions in the Gaza Strip, but she too worked as a senior academic through a research unit affiliated with Monash University and Monash Health.

And as the Greater Dandenong councillor did not bow to the pressure applied upon her post-the moving of the ceasefire motion, she began to come under pressure from the educational institution as well. This campaign, Dr Garad explains, was subtle but overwhelming, and it led to her eventual resignation from the position she held.

Monash had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in May 2023. This definition serves to conflate certain criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and it leaves those trying to shield criticism of Israel and its human rights abuses with the ability to demonise anyone who criticises that country as being antisemitic.

Antisemitism is the dehumanisation of Jewish people that led to the World War II Holocaust that saw 6 million Jews killed for being Jewish. Criticising Israel for the mass slaughter of Palestinians has nothing to do with anyone’s religion but deeming it so does serve to block such criticism. The dehumanisation that led to the Holocaust is now being turned upon the Palestinians of Gaza.

Universities Australia adopted the IHRA antisemitism definition in February this year, which means that 39 Australian universities have too picked it up. And Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal has released a plan that recommends that all Australian institutions adopt this definition that permits the Israeli state to kill Palestinians devoid of any criticism.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Greater Dandenong councillor Dr Rhonda Garad about getting the ceasefire motion across the line, the fact that she’s been emboldened to keep speaking out against Israel’s actions, and how she considers Monash having the IHRA definition in place at the time it became concerned about her behaviour, really smoothed the path to see her employment ended.

As a councillor for Greater Dandenong, you successfully raised a 27 November 2023 Gaza ceasefire motion. This caused much backlash from the Israel lobby, including negative attention in the press.

You’ve continued to speak out about the Gaza genocide. This began causing issues with Monash University, where you worked as a senior lecturer and research fellow in the health faculty, although you were not employed directly by the institution.

Due to the prolonged pressure you resigned from your position with the research unit you worked for last October, and while you were still conducting some ad hoc work for them that ended last month.

You continue to represent Dandenong as a councillor. Although you and the council are continuing to come under intense pressure because of your campaign against the Gaza genocide.

So, Dr Garad, can you give us a bit of a rundown about why you’ve been so outspoken about Gaza?

The reason I have continued to speak out is because this is an horrendous issue and many in our community are deeply affected.

So many came to the council speaking about the loss. One person lost over 60 members of his family. Others have lost relatives over there because they couldn’t get medication.

There were so many directly affected people. Dandenong is very multicultural and has a large Middle Eastern population.

But also, this is a humanitarian issue, and as a human being, it was clear that the genocide was shocking and wrong and it was clear even in November 2023 that it was disproportionate retaliation.

Getting a ceasefire motion over the line in November 2023 must have been a bit of a feat.

It was horrendous. There was so much resistance within council to it. The CEO was resistant to it. There was enormous external pressure from people who didn’t live in the local area.

One of the directors at that time was a Zionist, and he put a lot of pressure on the CEO not to do this. So, there was enormous tension.

But on the other hand, there was enormous pressure to get it up. We have never had so many people at the council at one time before.

I have never before felt the pulpable relief of the crowd when the motion passed. We suspended the meeting and went out to mark that moment and there were tears and emotions. It was like a moment I’d never experienced before. It was a ripcord that released all this emotion.

So, as difficult as it was because of the tremendous opposition we got, it was absolutely the right thing to do.

You’re still a councillor. You’re still posting about Gaza on social media. And just this month, it appears that the Murdoch media has contacted Greater Dandenong council to complain about your Gaza posting again.

As it has been for other high-profile cases, much the complaints about you have referred to reposts you made over social media, so these are other people’s posts that you’ve simply been sharing with others, and they are not of your own making.

The council has since responded to this complaint specifically stating that the posts do stray into antisemitic territory.

However, you’ve repeatedly pointed out that you have not been criticising Jewish people or Judaism but rather you’ve been criticising the policies of Israel or otherwise the political doctrine underpinning it, which is Zionism.

Can you talk about how certain entities are able to continue to demonise you as being antisemitic, when you’re making political criticisms?

A lot of the people who were placing pressure on Monash or the council or me, I don’t know who a lot of them were. But a lot of the pressure was coming from outside of our area, and they have never relented.

So many people in Dandenong have received similar treatment. I speak to people all the time who are being pressured. You have CEOs for not-for-profits and these sorts of organisations being silenced. 

People I know have been silenced by their organisation or people close to them have been told that they have to be quiet.

This is systemic throughout our organisations and institutions. So many people have told me, they have gone dark because of this pressure, as they can’t afford to lose their jobs. There is a silencing that has taken place right across society.

So, where do you sit with the council now that they have said you’ve been antisemitic? 

This was enormous overreach by the council, because as councillors, we are not employed by the council. They have no jurisdiction over what we say. We have the right to free speech.

The normal protocol for a council is to say, we don’t endorse or disapprove of a councillor’s speech. You can talk to the councillor, as we don’t provide any comment on the councillors. That is normally what is done.

This is the first time I have ever heard of a council making a determination. So, they have made an internal assessment that this was antisemitic, and I don’t believe that the determination was based upon anything other than their opinion.

They have made their own opinion-based determination that my social media posting is antisemitic, and not only that, but they are also implying that I have strayed into bullying and vilification.

This is quite exceptional, and I can only speculate and wonder why there has been this aberration in the council publicly disparaging me and making false and potentially defamatory comments.

So, this issue is still unfolding? 

Yes, it is. I was told by people from within council last Monday, when I was due to attend a public meeting, that the CEO had meetings with staff and other councillors, trying to work out how to constrain me during the meeting and to ensure that I didn’t talk about anything related to this issue.

My understanding was she had booby-trapped the meeting, and I was informed of this just beforehand. So, I rang in and apologised that I couldn’t make it.

My greatest concern is that if a council, such as Dandenong, which has a population that is highly affected by Gaza, is taking down councillors for speaking up, then we have to know that this is at an institutional level. So how are they operating in terms of the council staff? How are they being treated?

The implications of the council assuming this position, are far greater than the issue of just trying to bring me down.

So, this happened earlier this month? 

Yes. About two weeks ago.

The pile on against you that commenced in November 2023 continues until this day.

So, what would you say you’ve learnt about these well-coordinated forces that are campaigning against you? What have you learnt about Australian society that you were not privy to before you started speaking out about the Gaza genocide? 

This coordinated pressure is consistent in how it is implemented. There is a consistent process. It is about attacking individuals. It’s about taking down individuals and trying to destroy their reputations and putting pressure on everyone around them.

So, there is this consistent method that they use.

I now understand from seeing so many other people taken down as well that this is a coordinated and consistent methodology that they use. I now understand that the power behind this taking down of individuals is pervasive.

So, what I didn’t know before was that this was so embedded in institutions and networks and it was so quick to be exercised. I had no perception of any of this before. I have never come across it before. Maybe I was naïve. This has all been a great shock to me.

My initial response to it was to be very cowered by it. I was terrified of it. But as the genocide has gone on, and I have increasingly lost things, like my career and so on, I have just become very emboldened.

They will always attack. I don’t think there will be a time when they won’t. So, I now have nothing to lose in speaking out.

I have learnt that this is really big and punishing. Most people can’t take the risks that I am now taking because they may be in a different stage of their lives.

I am also incredibly angry and deeply shocked, because all of us who are standing up and speaking out to end the genocide are being accused of the opposite: we are being accused of generating violence and harm against a group of people that we are not at all focused upon.

We are just focused on this extremist Netanyahu government, the compliant US enablers and the IDF who are committing war crimes every day. This is who we are focused on.

So, to be accused of something so left of field that was never in our focus, it is still deeply shocking.

In a piece you’ve written about your experiences, you raise the fact that the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism was already in place at Monash University and it helped to facilitate your departure from your employment there.

This definition conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. It was adopted by Universities Australia in February this year, which means most major universities are now operating under this meaning.

The Special Envoy on Antisemitism Jillian Segal has just recommended that the entire nation adopt this definition.

So, can you talk about this IHRA definition of antisemitism? 

I had no knowledge that Monash had adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in the past. I only learnt that recently. But even if I had known that at the time, I wouldn’t have understood that it could have established an environment in which I could ultimately lose my career.

I want to be clear here that the pressure that was put on me at Monash to leave, it was very indirect pressure. It was very subtle. But it became overwhelming, and it was consistent.

I am now deeply concerned about our universities and institutions because they were something I believed in. I genuinely thought Monash University was a place that strongly stood for human rights. It has a whole history around the Vietnam War. It was this bastion for free speech.

So, there have been many loses around this. I no longer respect the sector. I know I could never work in the sector now because none of the universities would accept me after this, and I wouldn’t even want to work for them because I no longer believe the university sector is what I thought it was.

It is deeply saddening that we are finding out that institutions that we once respected and thought were protective are not.

So, how did the IHRA definition lead to your dismissal?

The definition set the environment for my dismissal to come about. The author of the definition Kenneth Stern said it was never meant to be used as a definition, as it is too imprecise. It is like the catcher’s mitt of definitions. It captures criticism of the Israeli government.

Stern says use of it is dangerous and it will lead to a form of McCarthyism, and we are seeing this today.

We are seeing individuals, like me, being hauled out in a McCarthyite manner, being dressed in sackcloth and paraded through the streets, as if we are wicked.

Stern explained that the adoption of the IHRA antisemitism definition would be a conveyor belt for producing more antisemitism and it has been exactly that. Most people I know had low awareness of antisemitism. Most people I know have had little experience with it during their lives.

So, people are now rising up and asking why is this one person, the antisemitism envoy, going to be the jury and executioner in regard to what we are all saying? This campaign could very well give rise to greater antisemitism.

It’s confusing as to why they have taken this line. But it does not augur well for the future of harmony.

We look at the 500 percent rise in Islamophobia, but we are not seeing anything like the response that we have seen on antisemitism.

So, this is an extraordinary time. I don’t think anyone foresaw this happening. We are all watching people dying from starvation in Gaza and we are watching IDF soldiers and GHF workers shoot children as they try to get some flour.

We are watching all of this, and we are all caught between this excruciating tension of watching what is happening in Palestine and this inexplicable pressure not to say anything about it.

This is creating so much distress in the community. I cannot tell you the number of conversations I have every day with people saying that the crisis is in their head all the time.

They can’t sleep. They can’t eat. They don’t know how we are living in this world, while the government won’t even acknowledge it is going on.

My intention is to speak up more, to speak up louder and to speak up harder, because whatever they take from me, I have to live with myself. And they can’t take your integrity away from you.

So, however vicious, organised and effective they are, ultimately, they will not win. Ultimately, people will speak up and people will keep doing what they are doing.