Sydney nurses' fired after 'stupid things said' in online chat, court hears

An online video chat between an Israeli content creator and two Sydney nurses who were subsequently fired involved "stupid things said by stupid people", a court has been told.

Ahmed Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh were charged following the February 2025 conversation with Max Veifer on cam chat app Chatruletka.

In a video recording of the chat, which Mr Veifer posted to his social media, the pair allegedly said they refused to treat Israeli patients and made threats to kill them.

The former nurses at Bankstown Hospital have both pleaded not guilty to one charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, while Ms Abu Lebdeh has also denied a further charge of threatening violence to a group.

Ahead of a trial in August, their defence lawyers have argued the video was unlawfully obtained, breaking a NSW law that prohibits the recording of a private conversation without consent.

Mr Nadir's counsel, Greg James KC, on Thursday told Sydney's Downing Centre District Court that Mr Veifer had illegally recorded a private conversation between the three people.

He argued that because the sound of the conversation was captured in NSW with a microphone in the state, it breached a NSW law concerning surveillance devices.

Privacy of recorded conversation in question

Mr Veifer gave evidence on Monday via video link from Israel, telling the court he would always record Chatruletka sessions for his own "protection".

But Mr James said that reasoning did not fit within a carve-out of surveillance device law which provides for some lawful justifications.

He said the influencer was intentionally seeking out people with views opposing his own on Chatruletka, hoping to record and upload the conversations to his followers.

"This man is running, in effect, vigilante activity,"

"He's seeking to draw out the opinions. Having succeeded in drawing them out, he's not protecting himself from them, he's capitalising on them."

The barrister argued the video was protected by Chatrouletka's terms, obtained through deception of those terms and in breach of local law, and said Mr Veifer could not have believed what was said amounted to an actual confession.

Israeli content creator might give evidence in person

Justin Hannebery KC, representing the Crown, said even if the conversation was deemed to have been private, "not all private conversations are created equal" and the expectation of privacy may differ with the context of the situation.

He said Chatrouletka connected "complete strangers" online.

"It isn't exactly with a close personal friend, where that expectation might be regarded as absolutely heightened."

Mr Hannebery also argued the use of a listening device in another country where the "only reason it is used" is to connect on a random chat website stretched the application of NSW law.

"That's the equivalent of saying, 'I used the microphone Mick Jagger is using if I go to a Rolling Stones concert',"

Mr Hannebery told the judge that if Mr Veifer was required to give evidence in the trial, "the plan is" for him to travel from Israel to appear in person.

That issue, however, would be put to the side until the court ruled on the legality of the video recording.

Judge Micheal McHugh will deliver that decision on June 23.

Outside court, Mr Nadir's lawyer Zemarai Khatiz said that if the video was excluded from the case, it would be "a devastating blow to the prosecution's case".

Ms Abu Lebdeh's lawyer, Rayan Kadadi, said the court had "a big question to decide" when it considered whether or not the video was illegally obtained.