NSW Police say ‘very solid progress’ made on Bankstown ‘kill Israelis’ nurses investigation despite ‘delay’
NSW Police say the investigation into two Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital nurses who made vile anti-Semitic threats in an alarming video has been “delayed”, but “solid progress” has been made.
Ahmad ‘Rashad’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh have both been stood down by NSW Health and charges are being considered after the duo claimed they would rather “kill” Israeli patients than treat them in the disturbing clip.
Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters Monday the investigation had been delayed because the central witness was based overseas.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“This is a complex matter, given the geography of the nurses being here in New South Wales and the key witness is in Israel,” she said.
“It is a complex matter where we’re talking about an international jurisdiction. We don’t have jurisdiction.”
Mr Nadir and Ms Abu Lebdeh made the shocking comments during a video call, believed to have been recorded the night of February 11, with popular Jewish influencer Max Viefer on chat site Chatruletka.
Mr Veifer made headlines nationally and worldwide after uploading the video exposing the anti-Semitism to his thousands of TikTok and Instagram followers the following morning, which quickly went viral and sparked fierce condemnation.
Ms Webb said officers had worked with counterparts overseas to obtain a statement, which had to be translated from Hebrew to English to make it admissible as evidence in NSW courts.
“That has just taken time and people just need to be patient,” she explained. “But we’ve made progress. We’ve made very, very solid progress”.
Ms Webb has previously said Mr Veifer’s evidence would be “critical” to determine if an offence had been committed under State or Federal legislation, reiterating her comments on Monday.
“As I said right from the outset, that witness was key and the evidence was critical to this investigation,” she said.
Ms Webb declined to comment on whether there was any evidence either of the nurses had caused any harm to patients while on duty.
When questioned further about the investigation, Ms Webb said she would “leave the rest to the detectives in charge”.
She added a brief was being prepared for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Last week, Detective Superintendent Darren Newman said the pair would likely face a charge relating to the use of a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
