The two Sydney nurses who threatened to kill Israeli patients in a video that went viral last year pleaded not guilty in a court hearing on Monday.

Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 28, nurses at Bankstown Hospital, told Israeli influencer Maz Veifer last February that they had harmed Israeli patients and would continue to harm them in the future.

The video sparked international outrage, and their nursing licenses were suspended for two years.

The trial is set for August 31.

Nadir’s defense lawyer Zemarai Khatiz told reporters that he will claim at the pretrial hearing on June 1 that the video is inadmissible as evidence.

“We will have to just wait until June 1 when the applications are heard,” he said.

Both nurses are facing charges for using a carriage service to menace, harass, and offend. Abu Lebdeh was also charged with threatening violence against a group, and Nadir was charged with possessing an illegal drug after morphine was found in his personal work locker.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)