CANADA – Air Canada Fires Pro-Palestinian Pilot Over Social Media Photos
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
A day after selfies of a Montreal-based pilot wearing a Palestine scarf with his flight uniform went viral along with others bearing disturbing anti-Israel sentiments, Air Canada has announced his termination.
As previously reported on VIN News, Air Canada took to Twitter on October 10th after pictures of Captain Mostafa Ezzo surfaced, saying that it was aware of his posts and that he had been removed from flight duty on the previous day. Air Canada returned to Twitter on October 11th, posting notice of Ezzo’s firing in both English and French.
“We can confirm the pilot in question no longer works for Air Canada, following the process initiated on Monday,” tweeted the airline.
Responses to Air Canada’s Twitter announcement were mixed, with some expressing outrage.
A Google translation of user Sara’s comment, written in Arabic, read, “You claim that you have freedom of opinion and expression, while you are lying. You punish and expel anyone who disagrees with you, because you do not have freedom of opinion and expression. The pilot will work for a company better than yours. We believe in that and we salute his humanitarian stance in which he supports the innocent. Free Palestine.”
“Isn’t that violence?” tweeted Nour Talhaoui in Arabic. “He has the right to express himself, to support what he wants, or does freedom of expression only exist against Islam and Muslims?”
Like Sara, Talhaoui followed up his tweet with several Palestinian flag emojis, as well as the hashtag #FreePalastine [sic].
But the majority of those who responded to Air Canada’s post welcomed the news, with several calling for Ezzo to be added to a no-fly list.
“Thank you for doing the right thing,” posted Arieh Chaikin. “There is no room for those glorify terrorism in this world.”
“That’s a wonderful thing,” tweeted user Frosty Knight. “Anyone supporting a terrorist group here at home in Canada should not be working for an airline. You did the right thing.”
But perhaps most unsettling of all in the responses to Air Canada’s tweet was a post by user Janice S-K that may have been written in jest but actually brought to light a disturbing reality.
“Psst! Please let us know which airline hires him,” wrote Janice S-K. “We hear there’s a shortage of pilots.”