Video of two Sydney nurses allegedly making antisemitic comments to Israeli influencer struck from court case

Ahmad Nadir is one of two Sydney nurses due to face trial at the end of August. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP View image in fullscreen Ahmad Nadir is one of two Sydney nurses due to face trial at the end of August. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP Video of two Sydney nurses allegedly making antisemitic comments to Israeli influencer struck from court case Huge blow to prosecution as judge rules footage is inadmissible in upcoming trial Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A video of two Sydney nurses allegedly making antisemitic comments to an Israeli influencer has been ruled inadmissible as evidence as the pair prepare to go to trial. Ahmad Nadir, 28, and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, have pleaded not guilty to being menacing and offensive when they allegedly said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and threatened violence against them. The pair are due to face a trial at the end of August but the rejection of key footage has delivered a blow to the prosecution case. The judge, Michael McHugh, on Tuesday ruled that videos and any other recordings of the conversation could not be admitted as evidence. “I’ve come to the firm view that the video evidence must be excluded from each of the trials of the applicants,” he told Sydney’s Downing Centre district court. Lawyers for the pair earlier argued the nurses had been recorded without their consent while at Bankstown hospital in south-west Sydney, amounting to an illegal invasion of their privacy. One of the reasons given by McHugh for ruling out the video evidence was the already broad publication of the material online and in the media. “The alleged utterances of the applicants during the chatroom interactions are on their face at the very least likely highly disturbing to right-minded people,” he said. Max Ilinsky, an Israeli popularly known as Max Veifer, recorded a video of his conversation with the nurses on the platform ChatRoulette in 2025. The platform, which is known as Chatruletka in Israel, randomly matches people from around the world to encourage conversations. “This man [Mr Veifer] is running his own private … vigilante activity,” Nadir’s barrister, Greg James KC, previously said. “He doesn’t care what legal regime may prevail to obtain the recordings.” The crown prosecutor Justin Hannebery KC previously argued that the online chat did not have the same expectations of privacy because of the random nature of the connection between the nurses and Veifer. “Not all private conversations are created equal,” Hannebery said. “It isn’t exactly [a chat] with a close personal friend where that expectation might be regarded as absolutely heightened.” The crucial nature of the evidence in the prosecution case outweighed any questions of how it was obtained, the prosecutor said. Explore more on these topics Sydney New South Wales Privacy news Share Reuse this content