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AAP
AAP
Luke Costin

Nurses devastated, Jews fearful after 'vile' video

Nurses say the anti-Israeli video "is not how we are as a profession". (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Jewish people remain worried about healthcare quality as devastated health workers cop abuse over videoed threats by two nurses towards Israeli patients.

The pair of Bankstown Hospital nurses face possible criminal and health prosecutions after widely condemned viral footage of them boasting of not treating Israelis and instead killing them.

The president of the NSW Jewish community's peak body met management of the hospital in Sydney's southwest on Thursday morning as health leaders tried to reassure the community the hospital remained a safe haven for all.

"The video which emerged yesterday should serve as a call to action," NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told AAP.

"We will work closely with the government and the health department to ensure that no Jewish person is ever afraid to disclose that they are Jewish when they go to hospital."

He welcomed care-quality reviews while pressing for measures to ensure all state health facilities were physically and culturally safe places for Jewish staff and patients.

Health Minister Ryan Park said he hoped the visit showed the Jewish community and the hard-working hospital staff that "those vile individuals don't represent our workforce."

But government assurances had not assuaged fears among some Jewish people, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.

Mr Ryvchin said some were transferring elective surgeries to hospitals they think might be safer.

"These (two) people aren't the only ones that harbour this ideology, that are consumed by this sort of hatred," he said.

Nurses were to picket parliament on Thursday for higher wages but ditched plans after the video emerged.

They instead gathered to rally against hate speech and discuss their horror that two of their number could be fuelled by such hate.

nurses' rally
Nurses and medical professionals have gathered in Sydney to protest against hate speech. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

The pair's colleagues at Bankstown hospital were not only devastated by the comments but had also faced abuse from patients since the video emerged, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association president O'Bray Smith said. 

"This is not us. This is not how we are as a profession," she told the rally.

The blowback towards nurses was highlighted by a slight woman piping up from under an umbrella to tell the rally "hospitals were not safe".

Intensive care nurse Wing Besilos wiped away tears as she discussed the video, which had completely "flabbergasted" her.

"It doesn't reflect the majority of nurses at all," she said.

"These are tears of anger - I'm really really angry at the moment."

The two nurses have been stood down pending their potential sacking, revocation of their registration and criminal charges.

Premier Chris Minns said he strongly believed the video and the views expressed in it by the two nurses were an "aberration".

"I can't promise that every single health care worker doesn't harbour the same hate or the same views, but what I can say is that the evidence is that it's a small, small fraction," he said.

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