United Pilot Who Praised October 7 Attackers Was Reinstated, Then Grounded Again
Ibrahim R. Mossallam returned to flying after his 2023 suspension. United’s latest reported statement says he has again been withheld from service pending review.
Reports that United Airlines pilot Ibrahim R. Mossallam is still flying leave out the latest development: the airline has taken him off flights again.
The latest airline position
Mossallam, whose comments praised Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attackers, was allowed to return to flying after an earlier suspension. United then told news outlets in early October 2026 that it had again withheld him from service pending an ongoing review.
AeroTime reported on October 8 that DansDeals had also obtained United’s denial of a claim that he had already returned after the latest removal.
How the case began
United’s original removal followed a Facebook post describing the October 7 attack as resistance by brave people and rejecting its description as unprovoked. Hamas-led terrorists killed about 1,200 people in Israel that day and took about 250 hostages.
What the court document says
A June 30, 2025, federal court order in Ruben Sanchez v. United Airlines recounts Sanchez’s allegation that Mossallam was suspended with pay and returned after about one month. The order records that allegation in a separate employment case. It is not a judicial finding about how long the suspension lasted.
Later posts
Canary Mission attributes a May 2024 post to Mossallam calling Israel a racist terror state. DansDeals reported posts comparing Israelis to present day Nazis. These descriptions come from the outlets’ documentation of the posts, not from new statements by Mossallam.
His role at CAIR-New York
CAIR-New York’s own biography lists Ibrahim R. Mossallam as board vice president. That role is documented separately from the airline’s review. United has not publicly explained the findings of its original investigation.
