Andrew MacFarlane: Australian correspondent on the two health workers who were stood down over alleged Antisemitism

Two Sydney nurses may not yet know they've been stood down over anti-Semitic comments.

A video has been posted to social media of the pair in uniform, saying they'd rather kill Israeli people than treat them.

The Australian Government has launched an investigation.

Australian correspondent Andrew MacFarlane says the nurses work night shifts, so may still be asleep.

"So while the health department in has said they've been stood down and are likely to be fired, the pair of them might not actually know that just yet."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, this is shocking. An urgent investigation is underway in
New South Wales. A video has appeared on social media
that shows nurses bragging about killing and refusing to treat
Israeli patients. Have a listen, let's say.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Let's say an Israeli God for beat them to them,
you'll kill them. So if an Israeli is in Australia
and God's for something happened to him and he comes
to your hospital, would you kill him? Okay, you have
no idea how many Israeli A dog came to this
hospital and.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
And then the guy makes a throat sitting gesture. Police
have been called in. Prime Minister Albanezia has described the
footage as sickening. Australian correspondent Andrew McFarlane is with me.
Hello Andrew, Hello, how are you good? Where did the
video come from?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yes? This video popped up on Instagram this morning and
certainly sent shockwaves through. It's sort of shot like a
chat roulette video where there's a social media personality and
his whole shtick because he goes around on this rulett
at and talks to people from around the world. When
he stumbles across these two New South Wales Health employees
who are on the night shift at Bankstown Hospital. He

(01:11):
starts talking to them and when the pair in the
video discover that he is rightly, that is when this
discussion starts between the two of them. And obviously those
shocking comments were made which have been allegedly labeled anti
Semitic by the police here by Anthony Albanezi, the Premier
and health officials as well.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
What do we know about the nurses?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
So the two of them were wearing these blue uniforms
with the New South Wales Health logo. They've been working
in the Health department here for some time. One of
them is from Afghanistan but has moved to Australia several
years ago and become a citizen. There's a slightly strange
situation here where because the two of them were working
the overnight shift, they may technically still be asleep at
this hour. So while the Health department said they've been

(01:52):
stood down and they're likely to be fired, the pair
of them may not actually know that just yet.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Is there any truth that they actually did something terrible
or is this braggadocio or is there any evidence of
any patient harm.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
At this stage there is no evidence. New South Wales
Health was pretty quick to say that they are obviously
testing those comments made allegedly by the pair in this video,
but at this stage they say there is no evidence
that anyone's either been denied treatment or killed in a
New South Wales Health facility because they are Israeli.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
There have been a number of stories of anti Semitic
attacks in Australia, anti Semitic words and sentiments over the
past few months. It seems to just be growing. So
the pressure is on is it being stopped?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, that's the question Anthony Albanezi is facing daily. We've
had here in Sydney. There was a period of a
few weeks but almost every single day, certainly every single weekend,
the Jewish community in Sydney was waking up to these
pretty shocking comments, these bits of graffiti across their buildings,
their synagogues as well. They have taken a bit of

(02:57):
a downturn recently, but it's taken a lot of police
resourcing and a lot of messaging as well. This is
a very high profile incident and this is probably going
to attract a lot more international attention than the past ones.
And Anthony, how Albinezi is facing accusations that he's going
soft on anti Semitic attacks. This isn't going to help
that narrative around his leadership.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Currently, Andrew McFarlan, I thank you for your time.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
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