EDITORIAL: Vile anti-Semitic nurse video shows how far we have sunk

The term “anti-Semitism” — now so frequently used in our national discourse — isn’t a strong enough word to capture the despicable boasts of two NSW nurses made on a TikTok video circulating online.

Ahmad “Rashad” Nadir now says that he was joking when he and colleague Sarah Abu Lebdeh said they would — and in Mr Nadir’s case had in the past — kill Jewish patients in their care.

In the video, uploaded by Israeli influencer Max Veifer, Mr Nadir said: “You have no idea how many (Israeli people) come to this hospital ... I send to Jahannam”, which is the Arabic translation for “hell”.

Ms Abu Lebdeh said to Veifer in the video: “when your time comes, I want you to remember my face so you can understand that you will die the most disgusting death”.

How could two Australian nurses in the employ of an Australian public hospital be emboldened to make such vile, deranged comments? The pair didn’t even bother disguising their faces, or the NSW Government emblem on Mr Nadir’s work scrubs. When we speak about the “insidious creep” of anti-Semitism into our society, this is what we’re talking about.

It began 15 months ago, when pro-Palestinian protesters were permitted to gather on the steps of the Sydney Opera House to celebrate the brutal murder of 1200 Israelis by Hamas terrorists.It gathered steam with graffiti attacks across Sydney and Melbourne; swastikas spray-painted onto cars and homes. Then it was ratcheted up a notch when the firebombings started. On cars, then synagogues, then childcare centres.

At each turn, Jewish Australians looked to our politicians to show leadership; to make it clear that this would never be behaviour that Australia was willing to accept.

And every time our leaders failed to do so, the bounds of acceptability were stretched a little bit further.

Instead, they focused on preserving “social cohesion”, terrified of upsetting a hateful and unstable minority. The burden was loaded onto Jewish Australians to tread carefully, to avoid drawing attention to themselves, to station security guards outside their places of worship and their children’s schools.

Vile behaviour towards Jewish Australians here was downplayed, because terrible things were also happening overseas. The result is that we are now living in an Australia in which nurses are boasting about killing their Jewish patients and mass-casualty attacks are being allegedly planned against the Jewish community.

Underlying all this is the irreconcilable conflict between the Western values of freedom and democracy and the hateful, violent ideology espoused by elements in our community.

Not so long ago, those latter attitudes were confined to the very fringes of society. They’re now deep-rooted in our suburbs.

What do we do to arrest the march of these sickening beliefs across our society? How do our leaders preserve Australia as a place where Jewish people can seek medical treatment without wondering if the nurse caring for them wants them dead?