A United Airlines pilot who publicly described Hamas's October 7 attack as "resistance by a brave people" is once again operating passenger flights, and the airline has gone quiet on how that decision was made.
The pilot, Ibrahim R. Mossallam, was removed from flying duties with pay in November 2023 after his social media posts drew outrage. He had called the attack, which killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel, "not unprovoked." A June 2025 court order in an unrelated lawsuit against United indicates he returned to the cockpit after only about a month. Recent reporting from DansDeals and Live and Let's Fly, plus a fresh inquiry from journalist Libby Alon, confirms he remains employed and flying. Mossallam is also vice president of the board of CAIR-New York, and he has continued posting anti-Israel statements since his return.
What's striking is the silence. United confirmed the initial suspension, then stopped answering questions about the case for nearly three years. There has been no word on what the airline's investigation found, what remediation or review preceded his reinstatement, or how it judged that someone who praised the murder of civilians could be trusted with an aircraft. The pilots' union, ALPA, has also said nothing about any role it played.
The case has gained new resonance after a disturbing incident on September 30, when the copilot of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked his captain with a crash axe, reportedly intending to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport. Passengers and off-duty pilots subdued him and the plane landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Notably, Oman Air had already flagged that copilot and removed him from flying in 2024 after extremist materials were found among his belongings. There's no evidence Mossallam has ever threatened or plotted anything, and the situations aren't equivalent. But the flydubai case shows why airlines need to take stated support for violence seriously long before someone is at the controls.
The broader point, made forcefully by the original reporting, is that this isn't about political views. Pilots are entitled to hold and express opinions, including sharp criticism of governments. Praising an attack that involved mass murder, rape and the abduction of children is a different category, and passengers deserve to know what review process cleared it. United doesn't need to publish a personnel file. A simple account of what it investigated and how the concern was resolved would do.
If you fly United regularly, there's no official indication of any safety issue, and no suggestion you should change plans. But this is a story worth following, because an airline that reinstates a pilot without public explanation invites exactly the scrutiny it's trying to avoid.
Story via View from the Wing.
