NSW Health Minister visits Bankstown Hospital amid investigation into nurses’ threats against Israeli patients
The Health Minister has visited Bankstown Hospital on Thursday and addressed staff over a viral anti-Semitic video. It comes amid an investigation into why a woman wearing a ‘free Palestine’ shirt was featured in a hospital newsletter.
NSW
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NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has visited Bankstown Hospital on Thursday and addressed staff over a viral video in which two nurses threatened to harm Israeli patients.
Mr Park has visited Bankstown Hospital to apologise to the Jewish community for a vile video in which NSW Health nurses boasted about “killing” Israeli patients.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip accompanied Mr Park on the visit to the hospital on Thursday.
Mr Park said the visit was an opportunity to say sorry to a community left reeling by the nurses’ actions.
“I wanted to visit Bankstown Hospital with David Ossip to apologise to the Jewish community, (and) to assure him and the Jewish community that those two individuals don’t reflect the values of NSW health.”
He said he wanted to “convey to the hard working staff of Bankstown Hospital that we acknowledge those vile individuals don’t represent our workforce”.
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It follows newsthe government will investigate why a woman wearing a “free Palestine” T-shirt was featured in an official Bankstown Hospital newsletter, the Premier says.
The August 2024 newsletter includes an update on “multicultural connection,”accompanied with a photo showing a woman in the political T-shirt. It is believed the woman does not work for NSW Health. The photo has now been removed from online.
Meanwhile, police have begun questioning staff at Bankstown Hospital after a disturbing video surfaced showing two nurses making threats against Israeli patients.
The pair were recorded during a live web chat, where they boasted about refusing to treat Israeli patients and even suggested harming them.
Both healthcare workers have been stood down while police, NSW Health, and the Healthcare Complaints Commission conduct an investigation.
A lawyer representing one of the nurses said his client deeply regrets the comments.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has condemned the video and confirmed he visited Bankstown Hospital on Thursday to address the issue with staff directly.
“None of this is funny, none of this is a joke, its not a joke to the Jewish community, its not a joke to the Secretary Susan Pearce and its not a joke to me and the broader community,” he said.
“What this behaviour shows is that those two people do not understand the role that they play as healthcare workers in NSW Health.”
He later said he was deeply disturbed by the video.
“I never thought I’d see the day where two individuals dressed in a NSW Health uniform, paid to provide care to people, would express such vile, disgusting views,” he told 2GB.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility to restore trust, but I know that’s going to take time.”
Park also rejected an apology issued by one of the nurses, calling it “unacceptable”.
“The community doesn’t accept it. The Jewish community certainly doesn’t accept it. This has caused seismic damage to the relationship between our health system and the Jewish community,” he said.
Asked by Opposition Health spokeswoman Kelly Sloane if there is a “systemic problem” with anti-Semitism at Bankstown Hospital, Mr Minns said he would investigate.
“I don’t know about this particular political message, of course we will investigate that,” he said.
“If any member anywhere has information about that kind of political messaging that could undermine public confidence, we want to know about it,” he said.
It comes amid Sky News revelations that Bankstown Hospital deleted evidence of the staff member wearing the “Free Palestine” shirt, scrubbing their social media pages which showed even more staff wearing pro-Palestine slogans.
Meanwhile, Mr Minns revealed he spoke to Israel’s ambassador to Australia about a “vile” video over which two NSW Health workers have been stood down.
Mr Minns said he assured the ambassador that the government will “ensure” the workers never return to NSW Health.
“We are taking this incredibly seriously, and we will ensure that these individuals do not return to public health in NSW,” Mr Minns told parliament.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we all have an obligation to stand up against this vile anti Semitic racism.”
In the video, the man says: “You have no idea how many [Israeli people] come to this hospital … I send to Jahannam”.
Jahannam is the Arabic translation for “hell”.
The man and woman then go on to claim they “won’t treat” Israeli people, before the woman said “I’ll kill them” in the video.
Mr Park said at this early stage there was no indication claims Jewish patients had been hurt or killed by the pair were true.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park on Wednesday confirmed the health workers in the “vile” video had been stood down from their jobs as nurses at Bankstown Hospital.
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