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The Guardian
17-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
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. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 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'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion '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.
NBC News
13-02-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Two nurses in Australia suspended for reportedly making antisemitic comments
SYDNEY — Two nurses in a Sydney hospital have been suspended from work for threatening to kill Jewish patients and refusing to treat them in a video on TikTok, triggering an investigation by police, authorities said Wednesday. The video was shared by a TikTok user named Max Veifer, who says he is from Israel, and shows him talking to a man and woman wearing medical scrubs. 'I'm so upset that you're Israeli ... eventually you're going to get killed and go to (hell),' the man in medical scrubs said, after Veifer mentioned he is from Israel in a video chat. When asked why he would be killed, the woman in medical scrubs said: 'It's Palestine's country, not your country' and used an obscenity. The woman said she would not treat any Jewish patients and instead kill them. The man, with a threatening gesture, said he had already sent many Israelis, who visited the hospital, to 'Jahannam,' the term for Islamic hell in Arabic. Reuters could not independently verify the footage and it was not immediately clear if the full video of the conversation had been uploaded by the user. Some of the woman's words have been beeped out in the video. Reuters could not immediately contact the two nurses. 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. New South Wales state police said its antisemitic task force is investigating a social media video depicting alleged health workers making antisemitic threats. Police said the individuals involved were now assisting detectives. 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. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian federal police has 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. Australia has seen an escalating series of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, raising fear among Australia's nearly 115,000 Jewish people.
The Guardian
12-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Minister to meet staff at Bankstown hospital as two nurses' anti-Israeli video threats investigated
The New South Wales health minister says he will meet with staff at Bankstown hospital after footage emerged on social media of two of its nurses threatening Israeli patients, one of whom has since issued an apology. The video attracted widespread political condemnation after it was published by the Israeli content creator Max Veifer, depicting an edited online conversation he had with the two staff members on a video chat platform similar to Chatroulette. On Wednesday the health minister, Ryan Park, identified the pair as nurses from Bankstown hospital and said they had been stood down. In the video, Veifer asked a man wearing scrubs with a NSW Health insignia, who identified himself as a doctor, and a woman sitting beside him what they would do if an Israeli were to come to their hospital, and the woman responded: 'I won't treat them, I will kill them.' The man said: 'You have no idea how many [Israelis] came to this hospital, and I sent them to Jahannam [hell]. I literally sent them to Jahannam.' Mohamad Sakr, a solicitor who is representing the male nurse, said on Wednesday his client had sincerely apologised to the individual in question and the broader Jewish community. 'He understands what has happened, he is trying to make amends,' he said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'He has never appeared before the court in relation to any criminal matters. He is a person of prior good character. It is unfortunate to find himself in a situation like this.' Park told Channel Seven's Sunrise on Thursday that Jewish patients 'have every right to have lost confidence' in the NSW Health system and he would work as hard as he could to rebuild that trust. 'I understand the Jewish community has been rocked by this,' the minister said. 'I've spoken to a number of rabbis overnight. I've spoken to the Jewish Board of Deputies. It is my job to regain that trust in the health system.' Park said he would meet the leadership and general staff at the hospital on Thursday to discuss the matter and make his expectations clear. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion '[I will] make sure that they feel supported that if they see any of this type of behaviour, they feel confident enough to say it and they feel confident enough to know that the government will act on it,' he said. Park said there had been a 'quick analysis' on Wednesday and overnight to check if there had been adverse patient outcomes at the hospital and to check how they had been cared for. It 'didn't indicate that that particular hospital had any outlying issues around adverse patient outcomes', he said – but there would be a more detailed check in coming days, and Park pledged to make the results public. 'I need to make sure that there have been no other incidents of this type of behaviour that has impacted on patient care in any way, shape or form in our hospitals,' he said. 'This is an issue that we need to confront … This behaviour is not acceptable.' He confirmed on Wednesday that NSW police and the NSW Healthcare Complaints Commission would both investigate. The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, welcomed news that NSW police were investigating and that the pair had been stood down from their jobs. But he told Sky News on Thursday he wanted to see more action from the federal government. 'The federal government regulates the health profession in terms of the registration of doctors and nurses and, as of last night, those two nurses were still registered through the national regulator,' he said. 'That registration should be stripped because, while they've been banned from the NSW public health system, that doesn't stop them working in the private system, and they shouldn't be anywhere near any patients, [given] they've said that they wouldn't treat people based on their nationality or ethnicity. 'For anyone to think it's a good idea to say this in any context, but to say it at their workplace, in their uniforms, on a recorded video, just shows how rampant this problem [of antisemitism] is and how decisive leadership is needed to tackle it.' The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called the footage 'sickening and shameful' on Wednesday. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, and the minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, released a joint statement condemning the video, labelling it 'as chilling as it is vile'.
New York Times
12-02-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Australian Health Workers Suspended After Threatening Israeli Patients
Two Australian medical workers caught on video making threats against Israeli patients have set off an uproar in a country where there has been a spate of antisemitic attacks in recent weeks. 'I won't treat them,' one of the workers, wearing medical scrubs and a hijab, is heard saying in the video. 'I'll kill them.' Discussing Israeli patients who had come to the hospital near Sydney, a co-worker, also dressed in scrubs, can be seen ominously running a finger across his neck The workers appeared to be speaking from inside a medical facility. Neither has been identified publicly by officials. Australian official have been quick to denounce the comments captured on the video, which went viral after a pro-Israel content creator posted it online. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday called the threats 'sickening and shameful.' He said the two workers, identified as employees of Bankstown Hospital, had been suspended. He also said in a statement that they had been referred to the police for a criminal investigation. That the country's prime minister felt it necessary to comment on the video speaks to the high-level concern set off by a recent explosion in antisemitic speech and attacks. Australia has been hit with a rash of antisemitic attacks in recent weeks, including incidents where a synagogue was defaced with red swastikas and a day care facility was set ablaze. There have been no reports of major casualties, but the violence represents a dramatic escalation of tensions reverberating from the war in Gaza, which has also spurred Islamophobic episodes in Australia. In November, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella organization that has been tracking and documenting reports of antisemitism since 1990, reported a 316 percent increase in the number of incidents from October 2023 — when the war in Gaza began — to September 2024, compared with the previous twelve months. The video of the two hospital workers, which was viewed by The New York Times, was recorded by Max Veifer and uploaded to his social media accounts, where other posts consist of videos of people discussing their views on Israel. The video of the two workers had been edited, and used emojis to bleep out words. Although one of the workers appears in the video to suggest that he may have harmed patients, health officials said that an examination of the hospital's records had so far turned up nothing suspicious. 'We have already taken steps to review the safety of the hospital concerned in this matter, and we have identified nothing that indicates the hospital is unsafe,' the New South Wales health secretary, Susan Pearce, said in her own video. Ryan Park, the state's health minister, called the workers' comments 'an act of bastardry' and said 'those people, subject to that investigation, will not ever be working for New South Wales Health again,' Mr. Park and Ms. Pearce both offered apologies. 'I want to assure the Jewish community today that they have my utmost sorrow,' Mr. Park said, 'but more importantly, my utmost energy, dedication and time, along with the secretary, to reassure them that our hospitals will continue to provide them high quality, safe care every time and anytime they present.'
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Australian nurses fired after allegedly saying in video they'd kill Israelis
Sydney — Two Australian nurses have been removed from their jobs over a video that appears to show them bragging they would kill Israeli patients in their hospital, authorities said Wednesday. Video released by Israeli influencer Max Veifer on social media appeared to show him in an online chat with a male and a female nurse at a Sydney hospital. "I am so upset that you are Israeli, eventually you are going to get killed," the male nurse tells him in an antisemitic tirade. Asked by Veifer how they would treat Israeli patients, the male nurse says he has sent many Israeli patients to hell. The female nurse says: "I won't treat them, I will kill them." Some of the dialogue was censored and it was not immediately possible to verify the full circumstances or contents of the conversation or the recording. The video, posted to TikTok, was unavailable on the platform later Wednesday. Screengrabs posted online showed a logo for the Chatroulette website in the corner of the video, suggesting Veifer may have connected with the Australian nurses by chance on that platform, before reposting the video on his TikTok channel. The male nurse reportedly told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper the incident was a "joke, a misunderstanding" and promised to apologize. Relatives of the female nurse were quoted by The Australian as saying she was having an anxiety attack over the furor. Veifer told Australian broadcaster Sky News he had filmed the video the previous evening. "I was shocked but I had a mission to accomplish, you know. I had to expose them," he said. It 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 video is disgusting. It is shocking. It is appalling," New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park told reporters, announcing an investigation by the state's police and health authorities. The pair had been "stood down immediately" from their jobs at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in southwest Sydney, he added, saying: "Those people subject to that investigation will not ever be working for New South Wales Health again." Park said an initial assessment of the hospital's records indicated that it had been operating safely and with care. The state's police force said it had identified the nurses and "a thorough investigation is underway." "This is a sad day for our country — it is unthinkable that we are confronted with, and forced to investigate, such an appalling incident," said New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb. Police had interviewed staff, seized security video and established where in the hospital the two nurses had allegedly been filmed, she said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament he had seen the video. "It is driven by hate, and it is disgusting. The comments are vile, the footage is sickening and it is shameful," he said. 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. Trump, Musk take questions at White House Flu deaths outpace COVID deaths in 22 states for first time since pandemic began Latest news on Trump's apparent work with Putin for Fogel's release
