Israeli influencer confident police have enough evidence to investigate antisemitic video

A social media influencer who posted a video allegedly showing two nurses threatening to kill and refusing to treat Israeli patients is confident police now have enough evidence to proceed with the investigation, as detectives work with him to finalise his statement.

But police say they are managing the complexities of gathering the crucial evidence from overseas that meets Australian legal standards and are working to resolve the investigation “as swiftly as possible”.

“As the influencer is in Israel and the video believed to be created in Israel, police need to manage the complexities involved in gathering and producing evidence from an overseas jurisdiction to meet Australian legal requirements for the evidence to be admissible in Australian courts,” NSW Police said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

“Detectives remain focused on resolving the investigation as swiftly as possible.”

Max Veifer last week posted the video, captured on online chat room Chatruletka, showing Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital nurses Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh allegedly saying they would refuse to treat and threatening to kill Israeli patients.

The fallout from the video continued on Tuesday, with a coalition of Australian Muslim groups, including The Muslim Vote and the radical Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, denying the video is antisemitic and labelling the ensuing furore as “manufactured outrage”.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday afternoon, Veifer said he spoke with Strike Force Pearl detectives on Monday, and while he could not provide details about the investigation, he was “confident they have enough evidence”.

Veifer said he hoped investigators were “doing everything they can to bring the truth to light” after reports morphine had been found in Nadir’s hospital locker.

Veifer thanked followers who shared the video, urging them to “stay united to face the challenges ahead”.

“Let’s make Australia a safe place for Jewish people. We’ve had enough. The Jewish community in Australia [has] had enough.”

NSW Police’s Strike Force Pearl, launched last year to combat a spate of antisemitic attacks across Sydney, has taken carriage of the investigation into the video.

In the earlier statement, the coalition of Muslim groups and prominent community leaders said it “condemned” the “hypocrisy” over the video of Nadir and Abu Lebdeh.

The statement denied the nurses’ words, in which Nadir says he would send Israeli patients to the Islamic equivalent of hell, were antisemitic.

“The frustration and anger directed at Israel is a direct response to its violent and inhumane policies – not an expression of hatred towards Jewish people.”

The groups labelled the comments from the nurses as “emotional and hyperbolic” and called the remarks “inappropriate”.

Signatories also included the mainstream political group Muslim Votes Matter, which is lobbying for more Muslim Australians to be elected to parliament, and Gamel Kheir, the respected community figure and secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association.

Also included in the statement was the Al Madina Dawah Centre, home of controversial preacher Wissam Haddad, and the extreme Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Hizb ut-Tahrir was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in 2024 for its support of Hamas, antisemitic views and its calls for jihad.

This masthead is not suggesting Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters are terrorists or that all its members condone terrorism.

While not a signatory of the statement, independent senator Fatima Payman echoed the comments in a video on social media, calling the public reaction to the nurse video a double standard.

“They made a terrible comment yet are being treated as if they have committed the absolute worst crime imaginable,” she said.

Nadir and Abu Lebdeh are under police investigation but are yet to be interviewed by police. In a statement provided to Nine News on Monday, Nadir’s lawyer, Mohamad Sakr, said his client was remorseful.

“By no means does he protect what he had done or hide from it,” he said. “He is more than happy to co-operate with police.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the Muslim groups “should consider how their actions have contributed to the sort of hatred displayed by the former nurses”.

Detectives arrive to search the Bankstown home of Ahmad Rashad Nadir.Credit: Wolter Peeters

“These so-called leaders could have stood with the nation in unambiguously condemning a despicable racist incident that exposed a threat to life and shook public confidence in our health system. Instead, they have used it as an opportunity to launch yet another attack on the Jewish community,” he said.

Seven News reported police searched Nadir’s hospital locker, where they allegedly found a vial of morphine. This masthead does not suggest that Nadir has committed a crime.

Both nurses have had their registration suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of NSW and neither can work as nurses anywhere in Australia.

The NSW government on Tuesday introduced new anti-hate laws into parliament in a bid to clamp down on antisemitism.

Intentionally inciting racial hatred would become a criminal offence under the new laws. Jewish groups believe even if the video of the nurses had emerged after new laws had passed, the pair may not meet all the requirements under the legislation.

To constitute an offence under the new laws, the incitement of hatred must be a public act, incite hatred, be intentional and be based on race.

Ryvchin’s co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said the new legislation may not go far enough to cover comments made by the nurses.

“There is clearly a gap between the level of protection expected by the public and what the criminal law actually provides,” he said.

“The problem in this case is with the requirement that the act be ‘public’. Yes, the video of this now-infamous encounter was certainly made public, but it was not made public by either of the two nurses.

“So anyone expecting that identical behaviour by nurses in the future will be prosecutable under any new legislation could be disappointed.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.