One of the two Australian nurses who spoke about killing or not treating Israeli patients was charged with hate crimes on Tuesday.
Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, is facing charges of threatening violence to a group and making death threats in connection with her actions earlier this month, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. She is out on bail until her court date, March 19, but the terms of her release prohibit her from leaving Australia or using social media, according to Karen Webb, the police commissioner of New South Wales.
“She is on very, very strict bail conditions, namely prohibiting her from going to a point of departure from Australia, but more importantly, banned from using social media,” Webb said.
An Israeli blogger, Max Veifer, recorded his video chat with Lebdeh and another nurse, Ahmad Rashad Nadir, earlier this month in which Lebdeh said about Israelis: “I won’t treat them, I will kill them.”
The nurses made these comments after seeing that Veifer was Israeli. They came into contact on an application that connects people from different countries randomly. Nadir, who initially falsely self-identified as a physician, told Veifer, “You have no idea how many Israeli dog[s] came to this hospital, and I send them to Jahannam,” Arabic for hell. Nadir has not been charged so far in connection with his remarks but is still being investigating, ABC reported.
The chat, that the nurses seem to have conducted at the hospital in Sydney where they work, triggered an international outcry. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was already under fire from critics who said he was nt doing enough to curb a surge of antisemitic incidents in Australia, condemned the nurses’ behavior. They were suspended from work.
Last week, Australia’s foremost Muslim groups defended the nurses from what they called the “hypocrisy” of the nurses’ critics. A prominent opposition politician called for defunding the Muslims groups that had defended the pair.
