NSW nurse charged, school protest supports defending her

One of the Sydney nurses caught on video threatening to kill Israeli patients has beem charged.

Sarah Abu Lebdeh, who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney’s south-west, has been charged with three Commonwealth offences, including threatening violence, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, and using a carriage service to menace, harass, or offend.

Strike Force Pearl investigators arrested and charged Abu Lebdeh late on Tuesday. She was granted strict bail conditions, including a social media ban, and is due to appear in court in March.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said on Wednesday afternoon that Ms Abu Lebdeh had been charged with three "very, very serious" offences. "She is on very, very strict bail conditions, namely prohibiting her from going to a point of departure from Australia, but more importantly, she is banned from using social media," Commissioner Webb said. Commissioner Webb stated that detectives had worked tirelessly to gather evidence from overseas within 13 days. "I don't think I would have ever imagined that an investigation of that complexity, across the other side of the world, would be done in such a short time," she said.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has sought assistance from Israel in the investigation, taking steps this week to ensure crucial video evidence will be admissible in court the SMH reported. Dreyfus has approached the Israeli government to ensure the evidence complies with both Australian and Israeli law. This legal step aims to overcome any doubts about the admissibility of a video featuring the two nurses, which was captured on the live chat platform Chatruletka and shared by Israeli social media influencer Max Veifer. While NSW Police have obtained the video from Veifer, the federal move seeks to ensure that the video evidence is officially provided by the State of Israel and does not face legal challenges regarding its provenance.