Court reverses decision on video evidence in ‘kill Israelis’ nurses case
Australia's Court of Criminal Appeal overturns decision that footage of two nurses talking about killing Israeli patients was an illegal invasion of privacy
A judge has reversed a decision made just weeks ago that footage of two former nurses filmed making antisemitic comments on a video chat cannot be admitted as evidence in a trial regarding their conduct.
New South Wales Supreme Court overturned its June 23 decision to exclude the viral video from evidence of Ahmad Nadir, 28 and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, allegedly filmed in February 2025 on Chatroulette, a video site where two screen users are randomly paired with each other.
They were matched with Max Veifer, an Israeli content creator. They told Veifer that they worked in Bankstown hospital in Sydney.
The video footage allegedly shows that in response to Veifer telling Nadir his nationality, Nadir said he would be killed and sent to ‘Jahannam’ – hell. When Veifer questioned why he would be killed, Abu Lebdeh then joined the video, saying it was because the rightful country was “Palestine”, not Veifers.
The video allegedly then went on to show Nadir saying that Veifer had no idea how many Israeli “dogs” had come to the hospital, claiming that he had sent them to hell.
It also allegedly showed Abu Lebdeh saying she would not treat Israelis and that she would kill them instead of treating them, with Nadir again joining in and reiterating that he would send Israelis to hell. Abu Lebdeh also reportedly said she wanted Veifer to remember her face when he died.
After Veifer subsequently published the alleged video in February 2025, the two nurses were suspended from the hospital for two years. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the video as “sickening and shameful”, with the Health Minister for New South Wales saying at the time that they would never work in the NSW health system ever again.
In February 2025, 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”
In June, the NSW District Court ruled the video inadmissible and excluded it from trial on the grounds it was recorded without consent.
After the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions appealed the decision, on Friday July 31 the NSW Supreme Court set aside the ruling, finding the unedited audiovisual evidence was admissible and could be used at trial.
The court’s reasons will be published at a later date. The trial begins on 31 August.