Australian nurses stood down over ‘vile’ antisemitic video

Two Australian nurses have been stood down after a video appeared to show them threatening to kill Israeli patients and boasting about refusing to treat them.

The man and woman – both employees at a Sydney hospital – are now being investigated by police, officials in New South Wales (NSW) said.

State Health Minister Ryan Park said that a “thorough investigation” would be carried out to make sure there had been “no adverse [patient] outcomes”, but that a “rapid” examination of hospital records had not turned up anything unusual.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the video as “sickening and shameful” after it began circulating online.

It comes less than a week after Australia passed tougher laws against hate crimes following a wave of high-profile antisemitic attacks.

On Wednesday, NSW Police said that they believed they had “identified the individuals involved” in the video.

The health minister said both had been stood down immediately, and promised that they would never work in the NSW healthcare system again.

The video was shared on TikTok by content creator Max Veifer, who says he is from Israel.

His account features conversations with people he encounters on the app Chatruletka – an anonymous online platform which pairs people randomly for a video chat.

The footage, seen by the BBC, appears to have been recorded in a hospital.

A man, who claims to be a doctor, tells Mr Veifer that he “has beautiful eyes” but adds “I’m sorry you’re Israeli” before saying he sends Israelis to Jahannam – an Islamic place akin to hell.

He goes on to make a throat-slitting gesture, before a woman comes on screen and says that “one day” Mr Veifer’s “time will come” and that he will die, later adding that she won’t treat Israelis.

“I won’t treat them, I will kill them,” she says.

The video has been edited, emojis have been added, and some comments have been bleeped out – but authorities are not questioning its authenticity.

Albanese described it as “disgusting” and “vile”, writing on X: “These antisemitic comments, driven by hate, have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia.

“Individuals found to have committed criminal antisemitic acts will face the full force of our laws.”

Park also apologised to the Jewish community, and said he wanted to reassure them that they could still expect “first class” health care in NSW.

“There is no place in our hospital and health system for this sort of view to ever, ever take place. There is no place for this sort of perspective in our society.”

He added that staff at the hospital in the suburb of Bankstown were embarrassed and ashamed, but said it did not diminish the good work they did.

In recent months, in incidents unconnected to the hospital video, there have been a series of arson and graffiti attacks involving homes, cars, and synagogues in Jewish areas across Australia, causing fear in the community.

A caravan packed with power gel explosives that police warned had the potential to cause a “mass casualty event” was found in NSW in January, alongside a document with antisemitic sentiments and a list of Jewish targets in Sydney.

The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin said the video served as a “warning sign once again to all Australians about the evil that exists in our midst”.