United Airlines has suspended a pilot, Ibrahim R. Mossallam, for calling Hamas terrorists “brave people” on an X post.

A United Airlines spokesperson said the pilot was removed from their flight schedule but is still being paid a salary.

The airline said it will investigate the issue before taking further steps.

On October 7th, shortly after the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of 240 others, Mossallam posted on X: “This is a resistance by a brave people who have endured decades of occupation, oppression, humiliation, apartheid and straight up murder.”

He continued, “This was not an  unprovoked attack, but was a response to this past year’s attack by the Zionist regime.”

In response, Jason Greenblatt, a former White House Middle East envoy, wrote on X: “For those who fly United [I do] we need answers about how we can feel safe in a [plane] flown by a pilot that said atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct 7 were ‘resistance by brave people’. Spread the word folks & demand an answer from United.”

StopAntisemitism retweeted the post on their X platform and asked, “How can Jewish passengers feel safe when this man flies their plane?”

X posters sounded off on the pilot’s remarks. “We expect this man to be fired immediately,” Mike G posted. “He puts passengers in danger on every flight.”
Moore Hogge wrote: “I have flown with you exclusively for the past 15 years. I will never board another United flight until this pilot is fired! I don’t feel safe flying with you anymore.”

The StopAntisemtism account exposed Mossallam’s other posts which showed a consistent pattern of misinformation about the war and anti-Jewish rhetoric.

United Airlines isn’t the only airline to suspend a pilot over antisemitic and incendiary rhetoric.  Last month, Air Canada dismissed pilot Mostafa Ezzo, after he wrote on Instagram: “F**k Israel, burn in hell.”