Air Canada has grounded a pilot who took to social media after the Hamas attack on Israel to express his support for the Palestinians and hatred of Israel.
First Officer Mostafa Ezzo is now on the airline’s no-fly list, according to the Toronto Sun.
The Montreal-based B787 first officer posted images of himself in uniform while wearing Palestinian colors.
A number of his social media posts also disparaged Israel.
Hi @AirCanada, your pilot Mostafa Ezzo, in uniform, is glorifying the mass murder of women and children and calling for the “cleansing” of Jews. How does he still have his job? Here’s his LinkedIn, in case you have trouble tracking him down. https://t.co/4KMwHOWqae @JustinTrudeau… pic.twitter.com/HHDsUeWlIW
— Eli Kowaz (@elikowaz) October 10, 2023
One image from Sunday’s pro-Palestine rally in Montreal carried a headline reading “F*** you Israel, burn in hell.” Another post called Israel a “terrorist state” and said “Hitler is proud of you.”
Another image showed Ezzo with a sign of a person putting an Israeli flag in the trash.
“Keeping the world clean,” the sign said, according to the New York Post.
The posts have since been taken down.
The Airline Pilots Association Canada said it condemned any messages that could be hateful.
“ALPA Canada, including the Air Canada pilot group, is aware of the situation and is incredibly saddened by the tragedies in the Middle East. We condemn all violence and hatred, and any promotion thereof. It is our firm expectation that all of our members abide by this principle and our professional code of ethics,” it said in a statement, the Toronto Sun reported.
Air Canada is conducting an investigation. Ezzo remains an Air Canada employee and will be able to board a plane as a passenger.
“The pilot was taken out of service as of yesterday,” Air Canada representative Peter Fitzpatrick said Tuesday.
“We did this because this individual’s opinions and publications on social media do not represent Air Canada’s views in any way. This person has never been authorized to speak publicly while identifying themselves as an Air Canada employee,” he said.
Other employers have also responded to their employee’s social media posts that sided with the Palestinian cause after the attacks.
Jackson Frank, the Philadelphia 76ers beat writer for PhillyVoice, was fired after he criticized the team’s social media post after that attacks, according to the New York Post.
“We stand with the people of Israel and join them in mourning the hundreds of innocent lives lost to terrorism at the hands of Hamas,” the team posted on X on Sunday.
“This post sucks! Solidarity with Palestine always,” Franks wrote.
PhillyVoice.com CEO Hal Donnelly issued a statement saying, “We stand with everyone who is absolutely outraged by the senseless attacks in Israel, by the loss of innocent lives and violence against civilians.”
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