A nurse from New South Wales, Australia, who was suspended after posting a social media video in which she declared that she would refuse to treat Israeli patients, has now been formally charged by the police, according to The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The 26-year-old woman, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, was taken into custody on Tuesday night at Sutherland Police Station, the report noted.
Lebdeh is facing three separate charges: threatening violence against a group, making threats to kill using a communication service, and using a communication service to menace, harass, or offend. The video that led to these charges was recorded on the video chat platform Chatruletka, where Lebdeh and her colleague, Ahmad Rashad Nadir, a worker at Bankstown Hospital, were seen discussing their decision not to treat Israeli patients. They also allegedly talked about harming them and even suggested they would “go to h—.”
Both of the workers were suspended while an investigation was carried out, though Nadir has not been charged. Lebdeh was granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear in court at the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, March 19, ABC reported.
Earlier this month, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park stated that there was “no evidence” so far to suggest that any patients had been affected by the incident. The video of the two healthcare workers quickly went viral, coinciding with a noticeable rise in antisemitic attacks in recent months, which have targeted synagogues, Jewish institutions, and vehicles throughout Australia.
In early December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed, an attack that authorities are treating as an act of terrorism. A few days later, a car was set on fire, and two properties in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra were defaced with anti-Israel graffiti. Woollahra is home to a large Jewish population. In another disturbing incident, a vehicle in Sydney had the words “[Curse] the Jews” spray-painted on it.

In early January, the Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah, a suburb of Sydney, was similarly defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The following day, the Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was vandalized with red swastikas sprayed across its front wall. Another attack targeted a residence in the eastern suburbs of Sydney that had previously been owned by Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Later in January, antisemitic graffiti was found at three locations, including Mount Sinai College in eastern Sydney. This discovery came just one day after authorities revealed they had found explosives inside a caravan in Sydney. The police assessed that the explosives could have caused a blast wave extending up to 40 meters. Investigators suspect that the explosives may have been intended for a large-scale attack against the Jewish community.
{Matzav.com}