Prominent Muslim groups claim reaction to Sydney nurses video is ‘selective outrage'
A coalition of prominent Muslim groups and leaders, including Muslim Votes and Muslim Votes Matter, have criticised what they claim is 'selective outrage' in reactions to a video of two Bankstown hospital nurses claiming they would kill Israeli patients.
The edited video, which was posted by Israeli influencer Max Veifer, sparked widespread condemnation, including by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who called the footage 'sickening and shameful'.
The video features nurse Ahmad Rashad Nadir saying he had sent Israeli patients to 'Jahannam' or hell. The woman in the video, nurse Sarah Abu Lebdeh, when asked by Veifer what she would do if an Israeli patient attended the hospital, said: 'I won't treat them, I will kill them.'
The two nurses have since been stood down and police are investigating.
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The coalition of Muslim groups said in a statement on Sunday the 'speed, intensity and uniformity of responses from certain political leaders and media outlets' was 'revealing'.
They said the same voices that condemned the nurses had 'provided active diplomatic and journalistic cover for ongoing crimes by the Zionists'.
The coalition said: 'This statement is not about defending inappropriate remarks. It is about pushing back against the double standards and moral manipulation at play while the mass killing of our brothers and sisters in Gaza is met with silence, dismissal, or complicity.'
The Muslim Vote – established in response to community anger at Labor's handling of the war in Gaza – plans to back candidates in Watson, Blaxland and Werriwa in this year's federal election.
Signatories included mainstream bodies such as the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and the Islamic councils of Victoria and Western Australia, as well as more controversial groups such as Hizb Ut-Tahrir Australia and the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown and its founder, Wissam Haddad.
Separately, other Muslim organisations and medical professionals have condemned the nurses' remarks without reservation.
In October, the nation's peak Jewish group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), filed a case in the federal court against Haddad and the Al Madina Dawah Centre over alleged antisemitic speeches.
The ECAJ alleges the speeches made 'derogatory generalisations about the Jewish people', including calling them 'vile' and 'treacherous'.
Haddad claims in his response to the federal court filing that the speeches did not contravene the Racial Discrimination Act and they were made for purpose of 'delivering religious, historical and educational lectures or sermons, to congregants of the AMDC and other practising Muslims.'
The coalition of Muslim groups also attacked what they described as the 'weaponisation' of antisemitism, saying criticism of and 'frustrations' with Israel should not be conflated with hatred towards the Jewish community.
They said that the 'frustration and anger directed at Israel is a direct response to its violent and inhumane policies – not an expression of hatred towards Jewish people'.
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'Attempts to weaponise accusations of antisemitism to silence dissent are not only intellectually dishonest but also dangerous.'
The group said the statements made by the nurses in the video, which included alluding to killing Israelis that presented to the hospital, were 'clearly emotional and hyperbolic'.
NSW Police say investigations into the video and the two nurses are ongoing.
The former Labor senator Fatima Payman earlier claimed in an Instagram post there were 'double standards' in the reactions to the video.
She said what nurses' remarks were 'wrong'.
'No one should be ever be denied medical care based on their race, religion or nationality. There is never an excuse for that.'
However, Payman claimed there was not 'the same level of anger and vitriol when the roles are reversed'.
'When Muslims face discrimination, when Islamophobic or anti-Palestine attacks happen where is the prime minister? Where is the full scale media outrage?
'This is the double standards that must end. If we're to condemn one, we must condemn the other, otherwise we're not standing for justice, we're just picking sides.'
Payman left Labor last year over its response to the war in Gaza.
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