The astonishing video of two Muslim nurses in NSW threating to kill Jewish patients has sent shockwaves through the nation. Should we really be surprised though? This is, horrific as it is, just part and parcel of the sickening rise in anti-Semitism which Labor governments, state and federal, tacitly tolerated for far too long.
Now, they’re scrambling to outdo one another in being ‘outraged’ and in thundering denunciations.
The latest escalation in Australia’s anti-Semitism crisis left political and community leaders stunned: NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the “deranged” nurses would never work in the department again while Health secretary Susan Pearce, in tears, said the comments were “appalling on every level”.
Far less convincing is the reassurance that this is a one-off aberration.
NSW Premier Chris Minns says the video of two NSW nurses boasting they would kill Israeli patients was an instance of “abject racism” and has sought to reassure residents about the safety of the healthcare system […]
“I mean, I can’t promise that every single health care worker doesn’t harbour the same hate or the same views, but what I can say is that the evidence is that it’s a small, small fraction.”
Is it, though?
As one Good Oil reader noted:
What is stunning about this pair of nurses is how brazen they are about voicing their hateful anti Jew vitriol. They are in their place of work, in their nurses’ uniform supposedly working a night shift. It is very telling about the community they live in, the family and friends they mix with, where most likely this language is ‘normal’ in their social circles. The mistake they made was dropping the mask for all to see what they really think. I would not be going to Bankstown Hospital if I was in Sydney.
Note, too, that the nurses union can’t help but equivocate:
The nurses union said it has postponed a planned strike outside NSW parliament in light of the scandal. Instead, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association said it would hold a “solidarity action” against hate speech at Martin Place on Thursday.
“The NSWNMA reiterates its condemnation of all forms of racism, bigotry and hatred, including acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” a statement read.
When a politician or union can’t put out a statement on anti-Semitism without reflexively adding, ‘…and Islamophobia’, the jig is up. Where, after all, is the remotely equivalent attacks on the Islamic community? Are mosques being torched? Are Muslims having to go about their daily business under armed guard?
Don’t piss on our legs and tell us it’s raining.
Especially not when the NSWNMA has been vocally ‘pro-Palestinian’ – which is at the very least adjacent to open anti-Semitism. If you demand funding for the anti-Semitic UNRWA, to deny defence materials to Israel and a ceasefire while innocent Israelis are still held hostage, how can you seriously claim to oppose anti-Semitism?
The Israeli who exposed the nurses’ deranged hate certainly isn’t convinced that they’re some kind of ‘aberration’.
Speaking on Sky News from Israel, [Max Veifer] said he was “shocked” as he spoke with the two NSW-based nurses, but needed to remain calm to gather evidence.
“As soon as they found out that I’m from Israel, they started cursing me and threatening me that they’re going to kill me, that they’re never going to treat Israeli patients at their hospitals,” he said.
“I was shocked. It’s insane that so far away in Australia, the hate has gone so far.”
The coalition opposition, who’ve been unequivocal about opposing anti-Semitism from the start, aren’t convinced, either.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson says the video of NSW nurses boasting they would kill Israeli patients is a “very disturbing window into just how deep and pervasive the anti-Semitic crisis has become” and has called on further action from the federal government […]
“It’s a very disturbing window into just how deep and pervasive the anti-Semitic crisis has become in our country, how badly it has festered and how emboldened these people are,” Senator Paterson said.
“For anyone to think it’s a good idea to say this in any context, but to say it at their workplace, in their uniforms, on a recorded video just shows how rampant this problem is and how decisive leadership is needed to tackle it.”
Decisive leadership? With Labor in charge in NSW and Canberra? Don’t make me laugh.
