'Come fly the deadly skies': Ex-official claims United using passengers as 'human shields'

Alexander Willis
September 14, 2026 

RAW STORY


A view shows United Airlines at the tarmac at Newark International Airport, as the skyline of New York is seen in the background from Newark, New Jersey, U.S., May 7, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

A bombshell report from The Intercept revealed that United Airlines is resuming shipments of military equipment to Israel aboard civilian passenger flights, sparking several blistering condemnations from prominent figures.

United previously used passenger flights to transfer military cargo to Israel between July 2025 and Feb. 27 of this year, just one day before President Donald Trump launched his deeply unpopular war against Iran, according to a new report jointly produced by Movement Research Unit, Palestinian Youth Movement, People’s Embargo for Palestine and the Democratic Socialists of America.

The new development, uncovered by The Intercept after reviewing “shipping data” and other documents, appears to be, the outlet noted, a “return to status quo for United.”

“We all get on our flights and have to worry about taking too much water in our water bottles, and meanwhile, there are ammunition handling systems and F-35 parts and tank sites that are being transported on these flights, without us actually knowing,” said Movement Research investigator Abdullah, speaking with The Intercept on the condition that only his first name be used “due to the sensitive nature of his work.”

Craig Mokhiber, a former senior United Nations official and human rights lawyer, was taken aback by the report’s findings.

“United Airlines has not only been shipping weapons components to the Israeli regime during the ongoing genocide in Palestine (itself the crime of complicity under the Genocide Convention), but it has been doing so by hiding them in the cargo of passenger planes filled with unknowing civilians,” Mokhiber wrote in a statement Saturday published on social media.

“United Airlines is therefore using its passengers as human shields to unlawfully arm the Israeli regime. These arms onboard constitute an ‘effective contribution to military action’ under [international humanitarian law], violating the Geneva conventions, and potentially making these planes ‘military objectives’ under the law, eroding or stripping their protected status, and putting every passenger at risk.”

Others, like journalist and activist Ali Abunimah, took a jab at United by mocking its slogan, “Fly the Friendly Skies,” with his own revised version: “Come Fly the Deadly Skies,” he wrote in a social media post on X.

And Natali Morris, journalist and former CBS News reporter, questioned United’s recently increased bag fees given its presumably lucrative contracts to ship military equipment overseas.

“If they're taking military contracts to ship weapons to the [Israel Defense Force], why do we have to pay $50 per bag?” she wrote in a social media post on X.

When contacted for comment, a United spokesperson told Raw Story that the company had “nothing to share” regarding The Intercept’s report and the underlying allegations.