EgyptAir pilot sparks fear after posting El Al plane video with threatening speech after flydubai attack
Video features Egypt’s Anwar Sadat invoking ‘eye for an eye’ threat to Israel in 1973; pilot tells Italian paper it has no connection to flydubai; video said filmed in Milan
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An Egyptian pilot has sparked concern after posting a video on Instagram on Wednesday that zoomed in on an EgyptAir plane pulling up next to an El Al jet, set to audio of a remixed version of a threatening 1973 speech by then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
In the speech, Sadat promised that Egypt would take revenge against Israel. “Let the Israelis remember what I always said: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’” he said in remarks delivered during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
As of Thursday night, the video posted by Osama Mansour, who describes himself on social media as a pilot for EgyptAir, had more than 6,300 likes and 1.3 million views on Instagram.
Mansour posted the video on the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel. It came a week after a copilot on flydubai Flight 1073, carrying 180 mostly Israeli passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv, attempted to crash the plane in a terror attack that would have killed everyone on board.
A small group of Israelis and the plane’s Indian captain succeeded in thwarting the terror attack, but it has prompted immense concern in Israel about security in air travel.
An EgyptAir pilot named Osama Mansour posted a video of an El Al aircraft in Italy, with a clip of a speech by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the background: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and violence for violence". pic.twitter.com/4Bwxd3WDts
— Straturka (@straturka) October 8, 2026
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that, in an Instagram message, Mansour denied the video had any connection to the flydubai flight and said he was expressing pride for the Egyptian airline. The paper identified the airport where the video was taken as being Milan Malpensa.
According to Channel 12, United Airlines suspended a pilot on Wednesday after employees reported him for posts praising the October 7 onslaught. A United flight attendant told the network that the posts drew concern in light of the flydubai attack.
The Times of Israel Community.