Air Canada grounds pilot for wearing pro-Palestinian colours in uniform, social media posts

Canadian flag carrier Air Canada grounded a pilot for wearing pro-Palestinian colours over his uniform, according to local media reports.

The pilot, identified as Mostafa Ezzo, also allegedly made profane comments about Israel in his social media posts after Hamas militants, who control the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on the West Asian nation.

“The pilot was taken out of service as of yesterday,” The Toronto Sun quoted Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick as saying.

“We did this because this individual’s opinions and publications on social media do not represent Air Canada’s views in any way,” said Fitzpatrick. “This person has never been authorized to speak publicly while identifying themselves as an Air Canada employee.”

The social media accounts of the Montreal-based B787 first officer were full of controversial remarks about Israel and one of his Instagram stories showed him promoting Sunday’s pro-Palestine rally with a caption that said “F*** you Israel, burn in hell.” Another Instagram story showed him holding a banner that termed Israel a “terrorist state”, according to the report.

Air Canada in a social media post on X said, “We are aware of the unacceptable posts made by an Air Canada pilot. We are taking this matter very seriously, and he was taken out of service on Mon, Oct. 9. We firmly denounce violence in all forms.”

Meanwhile, Air Canada has temporarily suspended its flight routes at this time to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Hamas attack. Canada’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Canadian citizens will be flown out of the country from the Tel Aviv airport in the coming days.

The government plans to conduct the evacuation using aircraft from the Canadian Armed Forces, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post did not mention those Canadians who are believed to be trapped in Gaza after Israel closed off the Hamas-controlled territory.