One of my fondest memories as a nurse of ten years is looking after a Muslim man of Egyptian descent who presented to the emergency department with significant pain and deteriorating health. He was my patient for the entire night and we briefly discussed our backgrounds for all of five minutes (which is often the case in an emergency) as he pointed out my Star of David tattoo. In the early hours of the morning, as I was preparing to hand over to the day nurse, the man said to me, ‘We need a million more like you.’ His words have stayed with me as one of the nicest compliments, especially as this took place shortly after October 7 – a time when tensions were on the rise in Australia between Jewish and Muslim communities over the Gaza War.
The power dynamic between nurse and patient, or doctor and patient, is significantly greater on the side of the healthcare practitioner. A patient comes into your care and the treating healthcare provider has the power to determine what happens to you. This is why the alleged actions of the two young nurses at Bankstown Hospital are so horrifying. According to reports, the two nurses were interviewed by an Israeli social media influencer whilst on their shifts, in their scrub uniforms, and appeared to admit to malpractice towards Israeli patients and echoed sentiments of discrimination and hostility towards Israelis. The video went viral online, and the two nurses have been stood down whilst an investigation is underway.
The nurses’ comments are reprehensible and, in my view, must result in them facing the full force of the law. But questions need to be asked as to how these medical professionals harboured such hateful tendencies towards Israelis (specifically Jews, as we know they weren’t talking about Israeli Arabs) and felt so comfortable doing so whilst on the job. The first place to start asking these questions is the workplace. The nurse manager must be questioned as to why staff members have been permitted to wear pro-Palestine paraphernalia at work in the past which would appear to be in violation of healthcare dress codes. Additionally, questions need to be asked of the department head as to why staff members who openly wear pro-Palestine slogans have been featured on the hospital’s social media page – which has subsequently been taken down. Politics has no place in a healthcare setting because it risks normalising discrimination and division. When leadership fails to enforce professional neutrality, it signals to staff that such intolerant behaviour is acceptable.
This is why the appalling behaviour of the two Bankstown nurses is merely a symptom of a much bigger problem that has been festering in Australia since October 9, 2023. Our weak government failed to call out the antisemitism on the steps of the Opera House, where protesters chanted ‘Where are the Jews?’ and ‘Gas the Jews’ – just two days after the Hamas massacre on October 7. We are now forced to deal with the consequences of our government’s failure. For the past 16 months, our government has failed to hold high-level figures in academic institutions and organisations accountable for relentlessly vilifying Israel and spreading dangerous falsehoods about Jews. When these public figures claim that all Israelis and Zionists seek to harm Palestinians, and they do so without facing reprimand or consequence, these figures contribute to the normalisation of hate speech in the public sphere of which these two Bankstown nurses are a product.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation announced last year that the terror threat level had been raised to probable and that young people in Australia are becoming more and more radicalised. The case in point, involving these two young nurses, is a product of this radicalisation and the government has done very little to deter people from this path. Surely, funding academics who call for the destruction of entire countries would be part of the problem, not the solution. When academics who position themselves as anti-racism advocates contribute to narratives that endanger minorities, they should be held accountable, yet they haven’t. Free speech does not exist in a vacuum; it carries ethical and social consequences. Now, these two young nurses will be made the example because they are the low-hanging fruit of a much larger institutional problem that has allowed hateful views to fester unchecked. When respected scholars, public intellectuals, and even workplaces, lend legitimacy to extreme narratives, they create a trickle-down effect emboldening those with less sophistication to echo the same hatred in cruder terms. The difference is that while these young nurses face consequences, those in positions of influence continue unchallenged, shaping discourse without accountability.
We have witnessed an escalation in antisemitism in this country from hateful rhetoric, vile graffiti on private property, the destruction of Jewish businesses, hate-filled pro-Palestinian protests calling for the end of Israel, and the firebombing of a synagogue and a Jewish childcare centre. At the core of these incidents, is unchecked hateful rhetoric damaging the social cohesion in this country and normalising division. Our leadership have remained largely passive in holding individuals accountable with no deterrent to this behaviour. The grotesque behaviour of these two nurses is simply the latest symptom of this larger, dangerous tide of antisemitism.
Enough is enough. These individuals, and all others perpetuating hate, must face consequences. The failure to act until now has allowed this situation to spiral out of control and it is time for this to stop. We cannot allow antisemitism to be further normalised in this country.
Hava Mendelle, Co-founder and Director, Queensland Jewish Collective @qldjewish
