Ahmed ‘Rashad’ Nadir was once celebrated as a refugee success story, an example of how migrants from war-torn countries could forge a new life in Australia. 

Now the 27-year-old Muslim man has been stood down over a vile anti-Semitic rant with his colleague, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, while the pair were at work as nurses for NSW Health.

Nadir has been branded a ‘sick individual’ who, despite the opportunities offered him in Australia, has continued nursing a hatred for Jews.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told Daily Mail Australia Nadir’s rant smacked of ingratitude. 

‘Australia offers so much to immigrants and refugees, and these individuals have apparently taken full advantage of opportunities in this country,’ Ms Hanson said. 

‘This country has given them refuge, and they’ve spat in our face.

‘They should be stripped of their citizenship and deported to places where people support their disgusting views.’

Meanwhile Oppostion Leader Peter Dutton said it was a ‘deep concern’ that Nadir was able to slip through the system and be granted citizenship.

‘It’s an outrage and we’ve got big problems in this country when somebody like that can become an Australian citizen,’ he said. 

He also indicated Nadir’s citizenship should be quashed. 

Nadir and his colleague, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, have been stood down after a vile anti-Semitic rant while at work as nurses for NSW Health

The Helmsman Project included Nadir in its promotional material as an example of 'the power of hope, help and love'

The Helmsman Project included Nadir in its promotional material as an example of ‘the power of hope, help and love’

‘To take citizenship or strip citizenship from somebody, there are constitutional constraints, and at some stage, our country has to have a discussion, I think, about the way in which the whole migration system works,’ Mr Dutton told 2GB.

‘I think it’s a conversation for our country at some point, maybe sooner than later, about how we can say to these people, if you don’t share our values, if you’re here and you’re enjoying the welfare system and you’re enjoying free health and free education, then at the same time you hate our country?’

But before Nadir left his career in tatters, openly boasting that he had sent Jewish patients at Bankstown Hospital to ‘hell,’ his story was held up as an inspiration. 

When Nadir was just 7 years old, his father was killed in the war in Afghanistan and he fled the country with his mother. 

They crossed Asia and ended up being plucked from a boat by the Australian Navy as they attempted to enter the country. 

Australia granted them asylum and they settled in Auburn, Western Sydney, when Nadir was 12.

At school he encountered racism, according to his own telling. 

‘They used to tell me “why you here for, go back to Afghanistan” or “shut up you don’t know how to speak English”,’ he said in a 2021 interview.  

‘At that time I could understand what they say but I wasn’t able to answer them back or stand up for myself.’

But he showed promise as a student – selected for coaching under the not-for-profit Helmsman Project, which aims to help teens from disadvantaged communities. 

‘This project helped me to come out of my shell and be who I am right now, it helped me to be confident and stand for my rights’ he said. 

Nadir showed promise as a student - selected for coaching under the not-for-profit Helmsman Project

Nadir showed promise as a student – selected for coaching under the not-for-profit Helmsman Project

The organisation later included him in its promotional material as an example of ‘the power of hope, help and love’. 

Nadir was studying to become a nurse when he was granted Australian citizenship in August 2020.

He graduated from university with his Bachelor of Nursing at the end of 2021, and began working for NSW Health, as well as at a medical centre in Sydney’s CBD.

Australia had provided him with every chance for success after his traumatic background.

But there was a problem: he hated Jews, and in his filmed rant he said he actively wished them harm as a medical professional.  

The incident at Bankstown Hospital, along with pro-Palestinian protests where insults are hurled at Jews, and a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism across the country, has raised disturbing questions about whether Australia is importing ethnic and religious conflicts from other parts of the world. 

On Thursday the Shadow Minister for Immigration, Dan Tehan, went so far as to say that anti-Jewish sentiments had reached crisis levels.

‘The unprecedented rise in anti-Semitic hatred we have seen over the last 16 months is not just a concern for the Jewish community; it is a national crisis that demands a strong and unified response and unequivocal leadership,’ Mr Tehan told Daily Mail Australia. 

Meanwhile Ms Hanson, who runs on an anti-immigration platform, has long argued Australia should not allow migrants from ‘hotbeds of extremist ideology’.

In her maiden speech in the Senate in 2016 she said: ‘Islam cannot have a significant presence in Australia if we are to live in an open, secular and cohesive society.’

On Thursday she harked back to those comments.

‘I warned the nation back then – highlighting incidents like the Lindt Cafe siege – and as usual I’ve been proven right,’ she said.

‘This abhorrent incident at Bankstown is just the latest attack in a wave of violence, arson, intimidation and pure, naked religious hatred unleashed on our streets, at places of worship and on university campuses.’

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has long argued Australia should not allow migrants from 'hotbeds of extremist ideology'

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has long argued Australia should not allow migrants from ‘hotbeds of extremist ideology’

She said of Nadir and Abu Lebdeh that they should ‘never get a job in Australia again. I’ll go further and say they should be chucked out of the country, never to return’.

‘These sick indivduals have obviously brought their hatred to this country and carefully nursed it during their time in Australia.’

On Thursday afternoon NSW Police were in negotiations with Nadir and Abu Lebdeh to get them down to the station for a statement. 

The pair haven’t yet spoken formally to police, although the police investigation has been wide-ranging as officers consider the charges to be laid. 

Detectives have obtained the full and unedited video of the tirade, as well as CCTV from the hospital, and conducted interviews with hospital staff. 

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