Senator Fatima Payman has called out what she claims is a ‘double standard’ in the outrage over two Sydney nurses caught on camera making vile anti-Semitic remarks.
Senator Payman spoke out on Sunday, after nurses Ahmed ‘Rashid’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh told Israeli influencer Max Veifer they would kill their Jewish patients in a video that went viral.
Senator Payman said what the nurses did was wrong and ‘thankfully no Israeli patient was killed’, but added that it was time to move on.
‘They made a terrible comment yet are been treated as if they have committed the absolute worst crime imaginable,’ Senator Payman said.
‘These individuals have been fired, banned from ever working as nurses again, raided by police, placed under the most intense public scrutiny and now (they are) the ones being hospitalised; they’ve apologised, they have been punished.
‘What is the end goal here? What exactly are we trying achieve? Justice or just public humiliation?
‘We never see the same level of anger and vitriol when the roles are reversed.’
Senator Payman highlighted an incident in December where, as reported by The Australian, Sydney woman Kelly Farrugia, 39, was accused of driving her car at Sheik Wesam Charkawi in an an alleged Islamophobic attack.
Ahmed ‘Rashid’ Nadir (left) and Sarah Abu Lebdeh told Israeli influencer Max Veifer they would kill their Jewish patients in a video that went viral
Firebrand senator Fatima Payman has released a video on social media calling out the alleged ‘double standard’ after a vile anti-Semitic nurses video went viral
‘But where was the national condemnation, where was the wall-to-wall media coverage?’ she asked.
‘Where were the Prime Minister and premiers denouncing it with the same force we see for these nurses’ comments?
‘Instead there was silence, absolutely deafening silence.
‘Let me be clear, what these nurses said was wrong.
‘But I’ve watched the coverage and held my tongue for too long. We need to talk about the double standards because it doesn’t feel like the outrage is for justice.’
It comes after new allegations emerged against one of the nurses being investigated over the anti-Semitic video.
Police allegedly found a vial of morphine in Nadir’s hospital locker after he and Abu Lebdeh were stood down from their roles.
Nadir allegedly asked a former colleague to empty his personal locker, but that person instead called the police, Seven News reported.
The vial was taken for testing as part of an investigation into Nadir.
‘As this is an active, ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment provided,’ NSW Police said.
Nadir (pictured) and Abu Lebdeh claimed they ‘won’t treat Israeli people’, with Abu Lebdeh adding: ‘I’ll kill them’
‘And yet where was the outrage?’ she asked.
‘There were no police raids, no national condemnation, no politicians lining up to denounce this.
‘When Muslims face discrimination, when Islamaphobic 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.
‘And that is what fuels division in our society. That is what actually damages our social cohesion.’
Both Nadir and Abu Lebdeh, who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney’s southwest, remain in the police spotlight after a video surfaced earlier this week.
On Saturday, police confirmed they had raided a house in western Sydney, which is believed to be where Nadir lives.
‘Officers attached to Strike Force Pearl executed a search warrant at a home in Bankstown about 6pm (on Friday), in connection with an ongoing investigation,’ a police statement read.
‘A number of items were taken for further examination.’
Nadir was still in hospital on Saturday after emergency services were called to his home on Thursday night following a concern for welfare.
A vial of morphine was also allegedly found in the hospital locker of Nadir
His older sister told reporters he was ‘not well’ and had to be hospitalised due to concerns for his mental health.
Police are yet to lay charges against Nadir and Abu Lebdeh, five days after they told Israeli influencer Max Veifer they would kill their Jewish patients in a video that went viral.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said police wanted the full video to inform investigators considering potential criminal charges.
Mr Veifer on Friday shared a longer, two-and-a-half-minute version of his conversation with the nurses in an online chat room.
The full clip was then given to police about 8.50pm on Friday night.
In comments not aired in the shorter, edited version of the video, Mr Veifer asked if his service as an Israeli soldier was why Mr Nadir thought he would go to hell.
‘Um, that’s definitely the answer, correct,’ the nurse replied.
The trio then began speaking over the top of each other as they addressed his military service, Hamas and the occupied Palestinian Territories.
‘One day, your time will come and you will die the most horrible death,’ Ms Lebdeh says.
Mr Veifer replied: ‘You spread hate, we spread positivity, we spread protection, we spread peace and you spread death.’
Australia’s health practitioner watchdog has updated its public records to show both nurses, who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney’s southwest, had been forbidden from working in the profession nationwide ‘in any context’.
The pair have also had their registrations suspended by the NSW Nursing and Midwifery Council.
CCTV footage has been seized from the hospital and other staff have been interviewed by police.
The unfolding scandal has broken trust in the public health system, Premier Chris Minns has conceded, and nurses have also expressed devastation and outrage at the comments.
Mr Nadir was treated by emergency services on Thursday night following a ‘concern for welfare’.
He has issued an apology through a lawyer after being stood down from the hospital but separately told reporters the incident was a misunderstanding and a mistake before he was admitted to hospital.
