Two Australian health workers sacked for anti-Israeli threats

Two workers in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have been sacked after saying they would not treat Israeli patients.

They said they would rather kill them in a video shared on social media.

The video, uploaded to TikTok on Wednesday, showed the exchange between a man and a woman in NSW Health scrubs appearing to be inside a hospital and an Israeli influencer.

The two health workers made a range of anti-Israeli comments in the brief video, which was taken down about 12 hours after being published.

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NSW Police on Wednesday said a Sydney branch of the force has launched an investigation.

NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce said two staff had filmed themselves making “abhorrent comments’’ about the Jewish community.

“Let me be very clear, there is no place in NSW health for those types of comments.

“There is no place in society for those types of comments,’’ she said in a video posted on her ministry’s X page.

Pearce said NSW Health had reviewed the safety of the hospital concerned and stressed that people would receive safe care.

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“I am absolutely appalled by it and everything will be done to ensure that we continue to make our hospitals a welcoming and safe place,’’ she said.

The staff members had been identified and stood down by state authorities, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as he condemned the video.

“The comments are vile. The footage is sickening and shameful.

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“These anti-Semitic comments, driven by hate, have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia.

“Individuals found to have committed criminal anti-semitic acts will face the full force of our laws,’’ Albanese said.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has called the health workers’ video “appalling’’ and said the individuals would no longer work for NSW Health.

“The comments are vile, dehumanizing and unacceptable. They made me sick to my stomach,’’ he said in a statement.