Two Australian nurses ‘stood down’ over video of anti-Semitic threats
Sydney, Australiaaustraliareligionhealthracism
RECASTS, ADDS quotes from Veifer, NSW police commissioner, details
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 anti-Semitic incidents over recent months in which vandals have torched a Sydney childcare centre, firebombed a Melbourne synagogue and scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti in Jewish neighbourhoods.
“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.
“Those people subject to that investigation will not ever be working for New South Wales Health again.”
– ‘Unthinkable’ –
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 CCTV footage and established where in the hospital the two nurses had allegedly been filmed, she said.
Australian media named the male nurse as Ahmad Rashad Nadir and the female nurse as Sarah Abu Lebdeh.
The male nurse reportedly told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper the incident was a “joke, a misunderstanding” and promised to apologise.
Relatives of the woman were quoted by The Australian as saying she was having an anxiety attack over the furore.
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.
djw/sco
© Agence France-Presse
