Two Sydney nurses have been detained after a film that appeared online purporting to show them threatening to refuse treatment or even kill Israeli people.
Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, and Ahmed Rashad Nadir, 27, were captured wearing their medical clothing.while engaging in a conversation on the chat platform Chatruletka with Israeli content creator Max Veifer. Upon learning Veifer was from Israel, one of the nurses allegedly said, “I won’t treat them, I’ll kill them,” while the other added, “Eventually, you’re going to get killed and you’re going to go to (hell).”
An investigation was launched in response to the video’s common outcry. Both Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital employees were abruptly suspended. No information that they had harmed any people was found in the patient records after a review of their records.
Authorities detained Lebdeh in February, and charged her with national offenses, including using a vehicle support to threaten to kill, and using a vehicle service to menace and harass—all of which carry a possible 22-year prison sentence. Nadir was detained on Tuesday and is facing charges of possessing a prohibited drug and using a vehicle services to menace, torment, or offend.
Both are prohibited from working in the health field on a national scale by the American health worker guardian.
Racist threats are making the case for more love crimes.
The arrests are in response to an increase in racist situations in Australia as tensions rise over the Israel-Gaza conflict. Jews have been targeted with destroyed cars, synagogues, and other structures, and police recently found a caravan in Sydney with explosives and a list of Israeli targets.
Karen Webb, the police director for New South Wales, confirmed that the racism task force Strike Force Pearl has so far detained 15 people and filed 78 charges.
” I must congratulate the work that Strike Force Pearl police are doing to detain, charge, and bring these people before the authorities,” Webb said.
The case has sparked more heated conversations about online hate speech, professional morality in medicine, and the impact of global problems on society in general.
