(NewsNation) — A United Airlines pilot identified as Ibrahim R. Mossallam was suspended after openly expressing support for Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7 attacks on social media, raising concerns about passenger safety and national security.
United Airlines acted a month later — after public scrutiny — and responded to the situation by placing Mossallam on leave with pay while they conducted an investigation.
Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser to President Donald Trump, expressed her surprise at the lack of social media monitoring for pilots.
“When I was in government, serving in the White House, serving in the Senate, my social media was monitored all the time,” she said in an interview on Tuesday’s “On Balance.”
The pilot referred to the attacks in Facebook posts as “resistance by brave people who have endured decades of occupation, oppression, humiliation, apartheid and straight up murder.”
The Stop Anti-Semitism Project, an organization dedicated to exposing such instances, reportedly brought Mossallam’s posts to light.
Coates highlighted the public nature of these posts and emphasized the potential danger of having individuals sympathetic to terrorist organizations operating commercial flights.