Greater Dandenong councillor Rhonda Garad has demanded a public apology from the council over its media statement that her social-media retweets “support anti-semitic language”.
Cr Garad says she will otherwise seek legal redress over the council’s “false” and “defamatory” statement that she was stoking “vilification, abuse or inciting hatred”.
She says the council should have issued a “no comment” over her “right to free speech”.
“It is deeply shocking they are taking this position.”
It comes days after Cr Garad resigned from the Greens. She says she will continue her councillor term as an independent.
Greater Dandenong’s statement was in response to an enquiry from another media outlet.
At issue were several of Cr Garad’s retweets on X such as one supporting chants of ‘Death, death to the IDF’ (Israel Defence Forces) at a recent Melbourne protest.
“Go Melbourne!,” Cr Garad posted.
She also retweeted a post that asked why “Jews need a homeland in the Middle East when they already own America”.
Cr Garad told Star News that the latter post was “ironic” and “sarcastic” reference over “how much control Israel has over America”.
Her posts were “not about race or religion” but the IDF, Israel or Zionism – which meant they were not anti-semitic, she said.
In response to the other media outlet’s enquiry, a council spokesperson stated that the council did not endorse Cr Garad’s retweets “in relation to the IDF, Israel or Zionism”.
“Some of her retweets support anti-semitic language and are likely to cause pain, offense and harm to the Jewish community.”
The council stated the Middle East conflicts were a “source of great stress and pain” to many in its culturally and faith-diverse community.
“Genuine political comment should never cross into vilification, abuse or inciting hatred against people on the basis of their faith, race or other protected characteristics.”
Cr Garad was concerned that the council was adopting an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, which she said potentially conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
According to the IHRA website, anti-semitism “might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity”.
“However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic,” the website states.
The same definition has been adopted by Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism.
After the release of Ms Segal’s report last week, debate sparked on what defined antisemitism.
Cr Garad posted that “this is a very dangerous moment for our democracy”.
“One unelected woman has written a ‘plan to tackle all the determinants of Australian culture such as education, and reinforce them for social cohesion, while removing elements driving hatred’.”
Greater Dandenong Council did not respond to Star News prior to deadline, including whether it deemed Cr Garad breached the council’s Councillor Media Policy.
