United Muslim Community Statement
In February 2025 a coalition of Muslim organisations and community leaders issued a joint statement about the reaction to a video in which two Bankstown Hospital nurses, Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, said they would refuse to treat, and threatened to kill, Israeli patients. The statement said the response showed "selective outrage" (ABC). It also said: "We affirm that all forms of discrimination based on race and religion are unacceptable, and that healthcare should be provided justly to all."
The statement said: "This statement is not about defending inappropriate remarks. It is about pushing back against the double standards and moral manipulation at play while the mass killing of our brothers and sisters in Gaza is met with silence, dismissal, or complicity" (Guardian). It also said: "The frustration and anger directed at Israel is a direct response to its violent and inhumane policies — not an expression of hatred toward Jewish people" (ABC). It called the nurses' remarks "emotional and hyperbolic".
Named signatories included the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils; the Islamic Councils of Victoria and Western Australia; The Muslim Vote; Muslim Votes Matter; Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia; and the Al Madina Dawah Centre and its founder Wissam Haddad (Guardian; ABC; SMH). Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir signed in his own name (Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2025). The ABC reported that the United Muslims of Australia, the Australian National Imams Council and the Lebanese Muslim Association were not listed as signatories.
Albanese said of the nurses: "What they deserve is the condemnation that they've gotten." NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said "we need to unite against hatred and these comments are divisive and unwelcome" (ABC).
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