Former Air Canada pilot Mostafa Ezzo. Photo: StopAntisemitism/X, formerly Twitter

Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, has grounded a commercial pilot who posted antisemitic messages across his social media accounts calling for Israel’s destruction, even after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas murdered well over 1,000 Israelis in a multi-pronged invasion of the Jewish state over the weekend.

“F—k you Israel. Burn in hell,” First Officer Mostafa Ezzo, who piloted an Air Canada-branded B787 plane out of Montreal, wrote in an Instagram Story earlier this week. A separate image showed him in his Air Canada uniform wearing a Palestinian flag necktie.

In another post, Ezzo held a sign that read, “Keeping the world clean” below an illustration showing the Israeli flag being thrown in the trash.

Ezzo has now deleted his LinkedIn and other socials. @AirCanada we imagine this hatred is a violation of company policy. pic.twitter.com/JaW1CR0CKg

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 10, 2023

“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.,” Air Canada tweeted on Tuesday. “We firmly denounce violence in all forms.”

Ezzo’s social media accounts have reportedly been deleted. According to the Toronto Sun, he remains on Air Canada’s staff, but he’s been “grounded” and placed on a no-fly list that doesn’t allow him to travel on the airline as either a pilot or a passenger.

Beyond Air Canada, other companies have taken action against those promoting Hamas or attacking Israel following the former’s brutal assault. On Tuesday, a prominent international law firm based in Chicago, Winston & Strawn, rescinded an offer of employment to a law student at New York University who sent a message to the school’s Student Bar Association expressing “absolute solidarity” with the “Palestinian resistance” and blaming Israel for what transpired.

“I want to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression,” the student, Ryna Workman, wrote. “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life … I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”

Meanwhile, Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, has demanded the release of names of members of Harvard University student groups who signed an open letter saying, “We the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” and “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”

Ackman tweeted, “I have been asked by a numbers of CEOs if Harvard University would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”

He added, “One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists, who, we now learn, have beheaded babies, among other inconceivably despicable acts.”

On Wednesday, the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper of Harvard University, reported that at least five groups who signed the letter have withdrawn their support for it.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.