One of the two NSW Health nurses stood down for threatening to kill Jews on their ward and would not treat them, has broken his silence over the shocking incident.
Nurses Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh from Bankstown Hospital in Sydney‘s west, were filmed by a popular Jewish influencer who released the video on social media.
‘It’s Palestine‘s country, not your country you piece of s***,’ Abu Lebdeh said.
Both Nadir and Abu Lebdeh said they ‘won’t treat’ Israeli people’. Abu Lebdeh added: ‘I’ll kill them.’
On Wednesday, Nadir, 27, insisted his comments were ‘a joke and a misunderstanding’.
He vowed to apologise to the ‘Jewish community and anyone I’ve offended’ as soon as he had spoken to police who are now investigating the pair.
‘It was a joke, a misunderstanding … I will use social media, anything, to apologise but I need to go and see the detectives first,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘I didn’t mean to offend. It wasn’t meant to be like this.’
Footage released by a Jewish influencer from a public video chat forum showed nurses Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh hurling insults at Jews and claiming they wouldn’t treat them
Nadir is believed to have been born in Afghanistan and gained Australian citizenship four years ago after arriving here at the age of 12
Abu Lebdeh has reportedly been working with NSW Health for several years.
Nadir was born in Afghanistan and but emigrated at the age of 12 and was handed Australian citizenship for years ago.
In addition to his role at Bankstown Hospital, Nadir had also worked at Observatory Hill Medical Centre in central Sydney one day per week.
Dr Nirmal Singh Grewal, who founded the general practice 25 years ago, told Daily Mail Australia that Nadir was well liked, but had been fired from that job over the incident.
His photograph was quickly removed from the medical centre’s website in the wake of the footage.
Nadir had participated in the Chester Hill Helmsman Project, a non-profit organisation that offers programs to help disadvantaged youth develop life skills.
The Helmsman Project produced a story on him in 2022, highlighting his career achievements as a nurse and how the program played a role in his development.
‘His journey from Afghanistan to Auburn and the challenges he faced and the support he received from The Helmsman Program along the way has shaped him into the young man he is today.’
When 7News confronted him at his home in western Sydney on Wednesday, he covered his head in shame.
Anti-Semitic nurse Rashad Nadir is pictured
He covered his head in shame when he was confronted by media
It is understood he lived with other family members, including his brother who works as a paramedic.
Health Minister Ryan Park confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday morning that both nurses have been stood down while NSW Health investigate.
‘This act of bastardry, this vile disgusting behaviour from two individuals will in no way diminish the value the secretary, myself as the minister, but more importantly our state has in the work that [NSW Health staff] do each and every day.’
Mr Park said he was made aware of the ‘shocking’ and ‘appalling’ video circulating social media and immediately asked senior NSW Health staff to take action.
‘They made me sick to my stomach. I have asked NSW Health to launch an urgent investigation to identify the individuals and they have also referred the matter to NSW Police.
‘If the investigation concludes that this behaviour has occurred, these individuals will never be working for NSW Health again.’
Mr Park went further at the press conference labelling the pair ‘disgusting and deranged individuals’ whose views were not representative of ‘their colleagues… NSW Health… the hospital system… [and] the community’.
‘That view is not welcome and will not be welcome ever again in New South Wales Health as an employee.’
Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel took to X on Wednesday to back calls for an investigation into the pair.
‘There needs to be an investigation immediately into these two Australian medical professionals who are saying they will kill Israeli patients – and suggesting that they already have.
‘They are expressing criminal intent towards Jewish people, this must be stopped.’
In the video, Abu Lebdeh told the Jewish influencer that ‘one day your time will come and you will die the most horrible death’.
‘You have no idea how many Israeli dogs came into this hospital and I send them to [hell],’ Nadir added, and made a slicing gesture over his throat.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park labelled the comments in the video ‘disgusting’ and ‘appalling’ and said it was not representative of the work NSW Health staff do
Ms Haskel, who lived in Australia for six years and worked as a vet before entering Jewish politics, said that the ‘disease’ of antisemitism was ‘spreading in Australia’.
‘This behaviour has to be treated with the highest consequences under the law and they should, at the very least, be fired,’ she said.
‘They have broken the Hippocratic Oath, they have talked about killing Jews, they show the true racism and hate that the Australian Jewish community is currently enduring.’
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, called the video ‘utterly sickening’.
‘Their unrepentant, gleeful hatred is the precursor to the violence we are experiencing in our country and it must be stamped out,’ he said.
‘These two medical professionals employed by NSW Health must be identified and immediately removed from any scenario in which they could give effect to their threats and their murderous intent.
‘No doubt we will see the defence that Jews have brought this hatred upon themselves through Israel’s war in Gaza.
‘That these people are merely traumatised from the images of the war. They have it backwards. It is this hatred and dehumanisation of Jews that causes wars and the carnage of October 7 and if left unchecked it will further degrade our society.
‘Time for consequences.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled the behaviour ‘sickening’ and ‘shameful’.
‘The comments are vile…. driven by hate, have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia,’ he said.
‘These individuals have been stood down by NSW Authorities. They have rightly been referred to the NSW Police for criminal investigation. Individuals found to have committed criminal anti-Semitic acts will face the full force of our laws.’
The investigation follows flagged legislation – put forward in response to a string of anti-Semitic incidents in NSW and Victoria – getting delayed.
New offences aimed at halting the incitement of religious hatred will not be introduced in the NSW state parliament’s first sitting week, as MPs chart a narrow course through freedom-of-speech protections.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the video captured deplorable rhetoric.
‘That anyone feels comfortable spewing this hatred while wearing NSW branded scrubs is sickening,’ he said.
‘No healthcare worker who holds these views should be registered in Australia,’ he added.
