Fatima Payman: WA Senator speaks out ‘double standards’ on anti-Semitic nurses’ comments

West Australian Senator Fatima Payman has called out the response to Ahmed ‘Rashid’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh’s anti-Semitic comments in a video to Instagram | WATCH

Senator Fatima Payman. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Fatima Payman has spoken out on the backlash against Western Sydney nurses Ahmed ‘Rashid’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh after they were captured making anti-Semitic remarks on an online webchat forum.

The pair, dressed in NSW Health scrubs during a night shift at Bankstown Hospital, were caught telling influencer Max Veifer they would “kill” Israeli patients under their care in a clip that quickly went viral.

Senator Payman took to Instagram on Sunday to express her stance on the remarks that shook the nation, claiming it to be a “double standard”.

Acknowledging the nurses comments as “wrong”, adding she was relieved no Israeli patients had been killed, the West Australian politician said the “elephant in the room” still needed to be addressed.

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

“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 to achieve? Justice or just public humiliation?

“We never see the same level of anger and vitriol when the roles are reversed.”

Senator Payman referenced an incident which saw Sydney woman Kelly Farrugia accused of attempting to hit passer-by Sheik Wesam Charkawi with her car in December, adding there was instead “a dangerous, deafening silence”.

“Where was the national condemnation? Where was the wall to wall media coverage? Where were the Prime Minister and premiers denouncing it with the same force we see for these nurses’ comments,” she said.

“If we are to condemn one, we must condemn the other. Otherwise, we are not standing for justice, we’re simply picking sides and that is what fuels division in our society.”