Two nurses in Australia suspended for saying they would kill Israeli patients
In social media conversation with Israeli influencer, one nurse claims to have already sent ‘Israeli dogs’ to hell, another vows she would not treat them, would kill them instead
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, authorities said on Wednesday.
Both nurses reportedly later expressed regret and that they were not being serious in their remarks, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described as “sickening.”
The video shows TikTok user Max Veifer talking to a man and woman wearing medical scrubs.
They were identified in media reports as Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
“I’m so upset that you’re Israeli… eventually you’re going to get killed and go to [hell],” Nadir said after Veifer mentioned he is from Israel in their video chat.
When asked why he would be killed, Abu Lebdeh said: “It’s Palestine’s country, not your country” and then unleashed a torrent of obscenity.
Abu Lebdeh said she would not treat any Israeli patients and instead kill them. Nadir, with a threatening gesture, said he had already sent many “Israeli dog[s],” who visited the hospital, to “Jahannam,” the term for Islamic hell in Arabic.
Two NSW healthcare nurses from Bankstown Hospital were stood down and are under investigation by police after claiming on camera they killed Israeli patients. This horrific incident raises urgent concerns: How many individuals like this work in other Australian hospitals?… pic.twitter.com/F0ywNhQdtK
— Piazza Victoria (@Piazza_VIC) February 11, 2025
Veifer was reportedly using an application that randomly connects users for video chats. Some of Abu Lebdeh’s words were bleeped out in the video.
Reuters could not immediately contact the two nurses.
Albanese said Australian federal police have offered “whatever assistance” to New South Wales state police.
“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,” Albanese said in parliament.
New South Wales state Health Minister Ryan Park said the nurses have been “stood down immediately,” pending an investigation.
“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.
He said the behavior by nurses, who were identified as working at a Bankstown hospital, was “vile, disgusting and appalling.”
“Nurses have a board and a clinical standard that they are registered to. So firstly, that is obviously being completely breached,” Park said, according to a report from the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
He noted that an initial investigation found no evidence of safety issues relating to patients at the hospital over the past 12 months.
Park apologized to the Jewish community, saying he and Pearce “are so very sorry.”
In her own remarks, Pearce, whom the Guardian described as “close to tears” said, “never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be standing here with two staff of the New South Wales health system having said such horrendous feelings about our community, and particularly to our Jewish community. I offer my sincere apologies.”
????NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has reassured the Jewish community that they will continue to receive “safe and effective” healthcare in this state. pic.twitter.com/3beBepwISz
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) February 11, 2025
“The Minister is right — those with these views should never be employed in our healthcare system,” the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said in a post to X.
In a statement, Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto said: “Health professionals, who take an oath to do no harm, threatening to kill and send Jewish patients to hell in our hospitals should send a shiver down the spine of every Australian”
“While we thank the NSW Government for their swift action, this is just another example of the systemic Jew-hatred that has infiltrated every sector of Australian society.”
New South Wales state police said its antisemitic task force was investigating the incident. Police said the individuals involved were now assisting detectives.
The Australian newspaper later Wednesday cited an uncle of Abu Lebdeh’s as saying she was “sorry” for her comments.
“I’m trying to calm her down,” the man said outside Abu Lebdeh’s home. “She’s been a nurse for God knows how long. She’s never done anything to hurt anyone.”
He said she was not a threat to Israelis.
“No, she would never be a threat,” said the uncle, who was not named in the report.
According to the report, Abu Lebdeh earned her nursing diploma five years ago.
The man said that Abu Lebdeh would make a statement “when she’s ready, but you can’t talk to her now because she’s having a panic attack, an anxiety attack. We might be calling the ambulance for her.”
Earlier, members of Abu Lebdeh’s family abused a reporter from The Australian when he filmed a video outside the home, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Nadir apologized “to the Jewish community and anyone I’ve offended” and said his remarks were just supposed to be a joke, the report said.
“Whatever happened, it was just a misunderstanding and a big mistake,” he told the newspaper. “Just entirely mistaken, do you know what I mean?”
According to the report, Nadir was born in Afghanistan and became an Australian citizen four years ago.
Veifer, who regularly posts videos, mostly about the Middle East, on TikTok, has 102,000 followers and his videos have been liked by 4.2 million users. Among his videos are encounters he has with other people over social media.
Jewish organizations and hate researchers have recorded drastic spikes in hate-fueled incidents against Jews in Australia since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel — when some 3,000 terrorists invaded the Jewish state, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages — that triggered the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip.
These have included several arson attacks on synagogues and community centers in Sydney and Melbourne and the repeated spraying of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti on properties or vehicles in areas with large Jewish populations. Last month also saw a neo-Nazi rally near the Melbourne parliament.
Antisemitic episodes in the two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne — home to 85% of Australia’s Jewish population — have drawn the highest profile because they are severe, unusual, and public.
The attacks in areas where Jewish people live have provoked an outpouring of condemnation — and a fraught and complicated debate about who’s to blame. But in a rare moment of unity, Australia’s federal lawmakers last week advanced hate crime laws almost unanimously.
Members of the Australian Jewish community, who have experienced near-daily attacks in recent months, see the threat as crossing yet another red line.
“The Australian Jewish community has hit a few major turning points lately,” said Dionne Taylor, Australian emissary for pro-Israel advocacy group ISRAEL-is. “We had the arson attack on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne in December, there was the caravan of explosives in Sydney last month that, if it would have detonated, could have been the worst attack in Australian history. And now there is this.”
“In the local chat groups, people have been talking today about whether they should be afraid at hospitals to supply optional details about their religion,” Taylor said. “Another woman in the group, a Jewish nurse at the Bankstown Hospital, said she is afraid to go in to work. It’s all heartbreaking.”
Jewish families in Australia are anxious, with the school year starting up again this month as summer vacation down under comes to an end, said Taylor, a mother of two.
“The Jewish schools here have always had armed guards, but now there is a police presence as well,” Taylor said.
Ahead of the school year, Sydney’s Macquarie University set up a high-security “safe room” for Jewish students who need to run away from antisemitic attackers, she said.
“The fact that they need to do this is terrifying.”
