Australian nurse charged over viral video threatening Israeli patients
Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, who worked at Bankstown Hospital, has already been fired and barred from practicing
Israeli content creator Max Veifer and one of the nurses from Bankstown Hospital, Sarah Abu Lebdeh. (Screenshot)
(JTA) — Police in Sydney have charged a local nurse in connection with a viral video from earlier this month that appeared to show her and a colleague threatening to kill Israeli patients and boasting about refusing to treat them.
Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, who worked at Bankstown Hospital, was charged with three offenses: threatening violence; using a carriage (or telecommunications) service to threaten to kill; and using a carriage service to menace, harass, or offend, authorities announced Tuesday.
Her arrest follows an investigation by Strike Force Pearl, a special law enforcement unit established in December in response to an unprecedented wave of antisemitic violence. Abu Lebdeh’s colleague, Ahmed Rashid Nadir, who also appeared in the video — originally posted by Israeli influencer Max Veifer — has not been charged.
Abu Lebdeh is the 14th person arrested by Strike Force Pearl, according to Karen Webb, the police commissioner for New South Wales, where Sydney is located. She said the task force has brought a total of 76 criminal charges against various individuals.
“Strike Force Pearl detectives must be commended for acting swiftly under enormous pressure and public expectation,” Webb said in a statement.
The nurses’ comments about Israeli patients in the video sparked condemnation in Australia and internationally. Both were fired from their jobs and are barred from practicing their profession anywhere in Australia.
American Jewish leaders have raised concerns about antisemitism in the health care sector in the United States, pointing to anti-Israel activity within medical schools, associations and journals. Local Jewish officials told Congress last year that they believed some Jewish patients had been denied psychological care by anti-Zionist providers in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war.
