United Airlines has removed from service a pilot who called Hamas terrorists behind the October 7 massacre “brave,” pending a review, the airline told The Daily Wire.
Capt. Ibrahim R. Mossallam was first suspended with pay in November 2023, but Israel’s Channel 14 reported on Monday that United quietly allowed him to return to the cockpit just six months later. United told The Daily Wire Tuesday afternoon, “We have withheld this pilot from service pending an ongoing review.”
The airline did not confirm whether Mossallam had resumed flying after it began investigating in late 2023. The Daily Wire asked United for clarification on the “ongoing review.”
In posts on October 7, 2023, Mossallam cheered as Hamas terrorists slaughtered Israelis, calling the attack “resistance” by people who had endured “occupation, oppression, humiliation, apartheid, and straight up murder.” He referred to the terrorists as “brave people” and blamed the “Zionist regime” for the massacre.
After the posts surfaced, Jewish organizations and Jewish communities in the United States called on United to fire the pilot. United initially removed Mossallam from service and investigated, but continued paying him. Channel 14 reported that higher-ups at United wanted to fire Mossallam but that his union intervened to protect him. Mossallam returned to the cockpit six months after his suspension, according to Channel 14.
In the years since, Mossallam has continued his anti-Israel rants on social media, including one which stated, “Their plan [Israel’s] was never to stop the theft of land. Were it not for the Palestinian resistance and the awakening of the world, all of Palestine would already have been taken.”
Mossallam is listed on the New York chapter for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) board of directors.
The renewed scrutiny of United follows the September 30 attempted terrorist hijacking of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, in which the Omani co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane with 174 people on board. Israeli passengers and crew, after the pilot managed to open the door, got into the cockpit and subdued the co-pilot, and off-duty pilots traveling aboard landed the jet safely in Saudi Arabia.
Before the attempted hijacking, the Omani terrorist pilot had published antisemitic posts on social media, along with posts advocating for violence against women.
The Flydubai attack has raised concerns, especially in Israel, about how pilots are being screened before they’re allowed to fly into the country. Monday’s report on the United pilot has now added to those concerns.
