25-02-2025
Sydney nurse who allegedly threatened to kill Israeli patients in viral video charged
A public hospital nurse who allegedly threatened to kill Israeli patients in a viral video posted by an Israeli influencer has been charged with three offences.
Sarah Abu Lebdeh, who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital, was charged with three offences including threatening violence, using a carriage service to threaten to kill and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
In an edited video posted by the Israeli influencer Max Veifer, the 26-year-old nurse appears alongside her colleague Ahmed Rashid Nadir, both allegedly claiming they won't treat Israelis and boasting of sending them to hell.
Strike Force Pearl investigators arrested and charged Abu Lebdeh late on Tuesday but no charges have been laid against Ahmed Rashid Nadir.
The New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb said 14 people had been arrested so far under the operation targeting antisemitism, including Abu Lebdeh, and a total of 76 charges had been laid by the strike force.
'These charges have been laid following a lot of hard work and legal advice, received yesterday from the commonwealth director of public prosecutions,' she said on Wednesday.
'Detectives have overcome obstacles and jurisdictional challenges to get where we are today.'
In the back and forth with Veifer, a former soldier who reveals in the video he served with the Israeli Defence Forces.
'One day, your time will come and you will die the most horrible death,' Abu Lebdeh says on the video.
Reaction was swift to the video with widespread condemnation, including from the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the state premier, Chris Minns.
Australia's health practitioner watchdog has barred both nurses from working in the profession nationwide 'in any context'.
The pair have also had their registrations suspended by the NSW Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The former nurse was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in court in March.
