NFL Threatened To Pull Azeez Al-Shaair From Game For Eye Black Memorializing Palestinian Child

In each week of the NFL season so far, Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has worn eye black that bears the name of a Palestinian child slain during Israel’s genocide in Gaza. When he did it in Week 1, the NFL fined him. During Week 2, a league official threatened to remove him from the game.

For the Texans’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills, Al-Shaair’s eye black bore the name of Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old girl who in 2024 was killed by Israeli forces in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza. After surviving an attack on a car she was riding in, Rajab phoned emergency workers to rescue her; the IDF bombed the ambulance, killing the paramedics en route. Weeks later, Rajab was found in the wrecked car, dead alongside six relatives. Israel initially denied that its troops were in the area of the incident, but admitted in August 2026 that its military had opened fire on the car.

“It’s bigger to me. Is a life worth $11,000? I think it’s priceless. An innocent man, an innocent woman, an innocent child losing their life is not right,” Al-Shaair said, days after that game. “I don’t think everybody knows what it’s about. I think that was the point because before that, probably most of you guys might not even know who she was. That’s kind of the point.” Al-Shaair was referencing the $11,941 fine levied by the NFL, which in its rulebook prohibits players from “wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.” Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving volunteered to pay Al-Shaair’s fine, and the linebacker later confirmed that the two had been in touch recently.