United Airlines has removed Captain Ibrahim R. Mossallam from flight duty pending an internal review, roughly three years after first pulling him from the cockpit over social media comments about the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

"We have withheld this pilot from service pending an ongoing review," the airline said in a statement, declining to say what triggered the latest action or whether new posts are involved.

Mossallam flies Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for United. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lists him as board vice president.

The carrier suspended him with pay in November 2023 after a Facebook post describing the October 7 attacks as "resistance by a brave people" and suggesting they were "not unprovoked" circulated online. He later returned to the line. United has never published the findings of that first investigation or explained its decision to reinstate him.

Why is the case back in focus?

Israeli Channel 14 journalist Libby Blanca Alon this week questioned why Mossallam remained in the cockpit, drawing renewed attention to a file United had treated as closed. Travel website DansDeals reported on October 7, 2026 that United denied an Israeli media report that the captain had already resumed flying after his latest removal, indicating the airline is still managing the personnel question in real time.

What new claims have emerged?

Alon reported that two United pilots, traveling as passengers on a flight operated by Mossallam, gave up first-class seats to sit in the cockpit to monitor him. She also reported that United had sought to fire him but that the pilots' union intervened. Neither allegation has been independently verified. The reporting does not identify the flight, date, or the two pilots, and United has not publicly addressed the claims.

How does the September 30 flydubai incident factor in?

The scrutiny comes nine days after a first officer on flydubai Flight FZ1073 allegedly attacked the captain and tried to seize control of the aircraft on a service to Tel Aviv. Passengers intervened and the aircraft diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. That episode has heightened sensitivity around cockpit access, crew fitness, and command authority on flights touching Israel, and has put existing crew controversies under a sharper lens.

What is the regulatory and labor exposure?

United, like every U.S. Part 121 carrier, operates under FAA rules that require airlines to act on any information suggesting a crewmember may not be fit for duty. A second withholding from service, three years after the first, tests the carrier's internal review process and its willingness to document findings publicly. The reported involvement of the pilots' union — implied by Alon's reference to intervention — signals that any discipline short of termination will likely move through the grievance machinery rather than management's unilateral discretion.

Accounts differ on how long Mossallam was off duty during the first suspension. The captain's CAIR role adds a civic dimension the airline has not addressed in its statements, and one likely to frame outside commentary regardless of the review's outcome.

For now, United faces a narrow set of options: complete its review and return Mossallam to the line with a documented rationale, keep him grounded indefinitely, or pursue termination through a process the union can contest. Each path carries a different cost — operational on the 757/767 fleet, reputational with passenger groups, and legal under collective bargaining — and the airline has offered no timeline for resolving it.