A support officer has returned to a western Sydney school after being ordered to work from home after he posted a video in response to the Bankstown hospital nurses footage, in which he criticised “selective outrage”.
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, who works at Granville Boys high school, posted a video on his social media platforms on 16 February in which he spoke about the reaction to two New South Wales nurses who allegedly claimed in a social media video they wouldn’t treat Israelis and boasted of sending them to hell.
In his video, Charkawi said the nurses’ comments were “never meant to be literal or intended to be a threat to patient care” and criticised people who had spoken out about them but remained silent on Israel’s actions.
“We refuse to accept a political and media landscape where Muslims are only visible when are being condemned but invisible when they are being killed,” he said in the video.
The education department first asked Charkawi to remove the posts from TikTok and Instagram at a meeting on 18 February, as the department believed they did not comply with “departmental and government policies”.
He refused, so the department asked him to work from home until the matter was resolved, Guardian Australia understands.
On 24 February the department issued a directive instructing him to remove the posts by 26 February. The video was removed from his Instagram and TikTok but remains on his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.
In a meeting between senior department officials, Charkawi and his legal representative on Thursday, it was agreed he could return to his role at the school on Friday morning, the sheikh’s lawyer said.
The decision came after students at the school staged protests on Wednesday and Thursday against the directive.
The NSW education department later said “following meetings with senior officials, Mr Charkawi has been cleared by the department to return to work as a school learning support officer”.
“He has been counselled over his actions and reminded of his obligations as a department employee,” a spokesperson said on Friday. “Mr Charkawi has removed the social media video and agreed to adhere to the code of ethics and conduct.”
Charkawi’s lawyer, Majed Kheir, told Guardian Australia the posts did not breach the department’s social media policy. He raised concerns about the “validity” and “legal basis” of the directive that formally instructed Charkawi to remove the video.
“Our feeling was that there’s a level of ambiguity and uncertainty in what is required of public servants and that the department has capitalised upon that level of ambiguity and uncertainty to place pressure on the sheikh to remain silent in this instance.”
Kheir questioned whether a similar directive would be issued to teachers expressing opinions about the war in Ukraine or the voice referendum.
“The ambiguity here is extremely concerning because there is more scope within that to silence certain views. And that is what we say has occurred here.”
Guardian Australia understands media reporting on the video led the department to issue the directive instructing Charkawi to remove it.
In the directive, the department referred to its social media policy, associated social media procedures and its code of ethics and conduct.
The education department also referred to a letter issued by the NSW premier’s department in mid-February which said public servants “have a duty to uphold the reputation of your department and the government sector as apolitical, impartial and professional”.
“This includes also in a private capacity in public forums, on social media, or when engaging in political or social issues.”
Charkawi has worked as a support officer at the school for 13 years and is well known to parents and the wider community.
He is one of the leaders of the grassroots political group the Muslim Vote, which was established in response to community anger at Labor’s handling of the war in Gaza. It plans to back candidates in Watson, Blaxland and Werriwa in western Sydney in this year’s federal election.
Charkawi signed a community statement alongside a number of Muslim groups and leaders that argued the “speed, intensity and uniformity of responses from certain political leaders and media outlets” to the Bankstown nurses video was “revealing”.
Chris Breen, from the group Teachers and School Staff for Palestine, said the NSW premier’s department letter had left teachers and school staff feeling “fearful” and “silenced”.
“There are many schools where people are fearful to talk about Gaza, to express a desire for the horrors there to stop,” he said. “There are staff who won’t wear a keffiyeh [traditional Palestinian scarf] or a pro-Palestine badge because they are fearful about the consequences for their employment. And this letter just reinforced that fear.”
He believed the letter was “intended to tell teachers that some human rights are not up for discussion”.
“Teachers, in general, think this, and what has happened to Sheikh Wesam, is outrageous. There is a worry of the slippery slope here that teachers won’t be able to comment on politics outside of school soon.”
An education department spokesperson said on Wednesday that all public servants needed to remain “apolitical”.
“All NSW Department of Education employees have been reminded of their duty to uphold the reputation of the department as apolitical and impartial.”
One of the Bankstown nurses, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, has been charged in relation to the allegedly anti-Israeli video.
