Family of nurse at the centre of anti-Semitic video firestorm say they are ‘ready’ for reprisal attacks – as pair refuse to be interviewed by police

The family of a NSW nurse whose anti-Semitic rant sparked public outrage say they are preparing for possible attacks after being bombarded with threats.

Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh from Bankstown Hospital in Sydney’s south-west, have gone into hiding after a vile video of them spewing threats to kill Israelis was posted to social media.

During the 90 second clip filmed by Israeli influencer Max Veifer, the pair, dressed in NSW Health scrubs, say they would refuse to treat Jewish patients and instead kill them.

Detectives have reviewed the full unedited version of the video along with CCTV as part of their investigation into their video, but the pair have so far refused to be voluntarily interviewed by police, The Daily Telegraph reported.

And while no charges have been laid and the pair have not been arrested, an angry mob has formed online.

The nurses and their families have been bombarded with threats too graphic to publish. 

Abu Lebdeh’s uncle told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that his family had put emergency plans in place and were prepared for possible reprisal attacks.

‘We are ready for them, we have seen what’s been said, we are ready for it,’ he said.

‘They won’t get what they want. We will call the police.’

The family said Abu Lebdeh feared for her safety and has gone to a secret location where she will hide out for the unforeseeable future.

Her brother Mohammad also said his sister had received death threats.

‘Enough of this, we want it to go away … my sister … she’s stressed sick, enough,’ he said.

Meanwhile a few streets away in the same suburb, Nadir, 27, is holed up in his townhouse refusing to leave or even answer the door.

‘Someone came past here and they were angry,’ a neighbour told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘They said they had something to tell him and went right to his door. I don’t know who they were, but they knew where he lived.’

The families spoke out as both nurses were deregistered by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of NSW, meaning they are unable to practice anywhere in Australia.

‘As a result [of the deregistration], the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has automatically updated their record on the public register of practitioners,’ Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said.

‘As a result this means the two nurses are unable to practise nursing anywhere in Australia, in any context.

‘Australians have a right to feel safe wherever they go and nowhere should be safer than a hospital.

‘Their sickening comments – and the hatred that underpins them – have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia.’

Hours earlier, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb addressed public anger and defended her officers for not arresting the nurses. 

She said police need to finish reviewing the video, along with CCTV and records seized from the hospital before the investigation progresses further.

‘It’s important that we put all these pieces together for a complete picture of what has occurred,’ Ms Webb told ABC radio on Thursday. 

‘What people have seen so far is definitely a hate crime.

‘This is a racial hatred on a level that I haven’t seen before.’

Premier Chris Minns said that the scandal has broken trust in the public health system.

‘We cannot have examples of naked racism from public servants exhibited on social media or anywhere,’ he said.

The clip was recorded on Chatruletka, a phone app which connects random users for video chat, and showed the pair threatening Jews while at work at Bankstown Hospital.

‘It’s Palestine’s country, not your country you piece of s***,’ Abu Lebdeh said.

‘One day your time will come and you will die the most horrible death.’

‘You have no idea how many (Israelis) came to this hospital and I sent them to Jehannam (hell),’ Nadir said, while making a throat-slitting gesture. 

The pair have both apologised for the comments. 

Nadir, 27, covered his face in shame when the media confronted him at his western Sydney home on Wednesday and insisted his comments were ‘a joke and a misunderstanding’.

‘I will use social media, anything, to apologise but I need to go and see the detectives first,’ he said.