Two nurses in a Sydney hospital have been suspended from work for threatening to kill Israeli patients and saying they would refuse to treat them, in a TikTok video that triggered a police investigation.
By Rachel Avraham
Two nurses in a Sydney hospital have been suspended from work for threatening to kill Israeli patients and saying they would refuse to treat them, in a TikTok video that triggered a police investigation, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, the two nurses who made the threatening anti-Semitic remarks were identified in media reports as Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
The video was shared by a TikTok user named Max Veifer, who says he is from Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to the report, the video shows him talking to a man and woman wearing medical scrubs. In the shocking video, Ahmad Rashad Nadir proclaimed, “I’m so upset that you’re Israeli … eventually you’re going to get killed and go to hell.”
When asked why he would be killed, Sarah Abu Lebdeh said: “It’s Palestine’s country, not your country,” and used a series of obscenities. She then said that she would not treat any Jewish patients and instead kill them. Ahmad Rashad Nadar, with a threatening gesture, said he had already sent many Israelis who visited the hospital to “Jahannam,” the term for Islamic hell in Arabic. The female nurse expressed her hope that he would remember her face when he died the “most disgusting death,” trailing off into expletives.
“I have seen this antisemitic video. It’s driven by hate and it’s disgusting. The comments are vile, the footage is sickening and it is shameful,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in parliament. New South Wales state Health Minister Ryan Park said the nurses have “stood down immediately,” pending an investigation, the Times of Israel reported.
“Obviously, the investigative process now takes place. I do not want to leave a sliver of light to allow any of them to be able to think that they will ever work for New South Wales Health again,” Park told reporters during a press conference with NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce.
“To the Jewish community today, I say not only am I sorry, but I can assure you this: the care that you get in our hospitals will continue to be first class,” Park said, adding that the hospital’s past record would also be looked into.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the NSW police antisemitism task force has taken over the investigation, interviewing staff, seizing CCTV footage, and have identified the likely location within the Bankstown Hospital where a male nurse told Israeli English teacher and social media influencer Max Veifer, “You have no idea how many Israeli s**t dogs have come to this hospital, and I sent them to hell.”
Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, asserted that there has been increasing extremism among Australia’s medical professionals toward Sydney’s Jewish community. “For months, I’ve been hearing from medical practitioners in the community who have been warning about extreme content posted by other doctors and nurses online,” Ryvchin told Network 10 television, adding this was not the work of “isolated individuals.”
The Washington Post reported that since October 7, hate crimes against Jewish targets have been on the ascent in Australia. According to the report, hate crime officials in Sydney and Melbourne — the nation’s largest cities where 85% of Australia’s Jewish population lives — are separately investigating the discovery of a trailer containing explosives, a list of potential Jewish targets and arson attacks on two synagogues.
CBS News reported that this follows a series of antisemitic incidents over recent months in which vandals have torched a Sydney childcare center, firebombed a Melbourne synagogue and scrawled antisemitic graffiti in Jewish neighborhoods. “This is merely the tip of the iceberg,” Ryvchina added.
However, the Australian government is trying to fight against the rising anti-Semitism in the country. CBS News reported that about one year ago, Australia’s parliament enacted landmark legislation banning the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawing the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika.
