NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb shares ‘very solid progress’ after Bankstown nurses in shock video

NSW Police have shared new details on their investigation into two nurses following the publication of a video chat they took part in while at work where they made shocking anti-Semitic comments. The pair were filmed wearing their NSW Health uniforms as they threatened Israeli patients who may come to the hospital during a video call with Israeli influencer Max Veifer, which was later uploaded to Tik Tok, sparking global outrage. Ahmad “Rashad” Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh have both been stood down by NSW Health following the incident, and NSW Police are investigating whether charges will be laid, with Commissioner Karen Webb revealing a brief was being prepared for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Commissioner Webb told reporters on Monday the investigation had been delayed by the fact the central witness was based overseas, which had created jurisdictional and language barriers. “This is a complex matter, given the geography of the nurses being here in New South Wales and the key witness is in Israel,” she said. “It is a complex matter where we’re talking about an international jurisdiction. We don’t have jurisdiction.” Commissioner Webb said officers had worked with counterparts overseas to obtain a statement. That statement then had to be translated from Hebrew to English to make it admissible as evidence in NSW courts. “That has just taken time and people just need to be patient. But we’ve made progress. We’ve made very, very solid progress,” she said. The state’s top police officer declined to comment when asked if there was any evidence the nurses had caused any harm to patients while on duty. When questioned about a further need for evidence or witnesses in the investigation, Commissioner Webb said she would “leave the rest to the detectives in charge”. “As I said right from the outset, that witness was key and the evidence was critical to this investigation,” she said. The update comes as NSW Police sees a 60 per cent uptick in applications to the force. Police Minister Yasmin Catley reported more than 3300 applications to the police. “This has not been seen for a very long time, so we’re very pleased to be able to report that,” Ms Catley said. “That will produce more than a thousand new boots on the ground … across metro, regional, rural and remote New South Wales.” Premier Minns said the increase in applications was a “fantastic number”. While he commended NSW Police officers for their services, he said he had bigger ambitions for the state’s force. “No one’s doing a victory lap, we know we’ve got a long way to go,” Premier Minns said.