American Football

The Houston Texans’ linebacker wore eye black with the names of slain sisters Lana, 12, and Bana, eight.

American football player Azeez Al-Shaair has once again honoured Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, despite previous fines and the threat of being removed from games, this time wearing the names of sisters Lana and Bana Ahmad on his eye black during his latest National Football League (NFL) game.

The Houston Texans linebacker took the field against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday wearing the names of Lana, 12, and her sister Bana, eight, who were killed along with their family in an Israeli air attack earlier this month.

Hours before the game, Al-Shaair posted about the sisters on his Instagram account and followed it with a photo of the black tape bearing their names that he would later wear during the game. The image also showed part of Al-Shaair’s black shoes with flags of Palestine and Sudan stitched on them.

Al-Shaair, a Black American Muslim player, has repeatedly spoken about the plight of Palestinians. On September 13, he wore the name of Hind Rajab, the five-year-old girl who was killed in Gaza after Israeli soldiers opened fire on her family’s stranded car on January 29, 2024.

The NFL fined him $11,491 for breaching the league’s code of conduct on players’ clothing and equipment during a match against the Buffalo Bills.

However, basketball player Kyrie Irving stepped in and offered to pay the fine for Al-Shaair, who later confirmed that he had been in touch with the nine-time NBA All-Star.

Al-Shaair brushed off talk of the fine while speaking to reporters last week. “It’s bigger to me; what’s a life worth? Is a life worth $11,000? No, I think it’s priceless,” he said.

In his subsequent game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Al-Shaair then wore an eye black — a sticker or paint frequently used by NFL players to reduce glare — with the name of Wafa Akila, an eight-year-old who was killed along with her father in an Israeli attack in western Gaza as they were making their way home.

He was also fined in January, during the NFL’s last season, for displaying the message “Stop The Genocide” on his nose tape. While it did not specifically refer to a particular conflict, it was widely understood to be about Gaza and Sudan.

Following his NFL outing in which he wore the name of Rajab, Al-Shaair was informed he would have to remove the eye black or he would not be permitted to continue playing in the game, according to reports in US media.

US Democratic politician Isaiah Martin condemned the NFL’s reported reaction to Al-Shaair wearing eye black with the names of slain Palestinian children.

“This harms no one by letting him do this,” Martin said in a post on X. “I think it’s absurd they were fining him, but those were the ‘rules’ and he agreed to pay the fine. Removal from the game is INSANE. This shouldn’t stand!”

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has severely limited education for the Strip’s 660,000 children, with 90 percent of schools left damaged or destroyed.

Israel has killed at least 21,500 children since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Al-Shaair wears eye black with Akila’s name despite being fined for displaying messages about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

American football player Azeez Al-Shaair has persisted with his stance on raising awareness about slain Palestinian children by wearing eye black bearing the name of Wafaa Akila, an eight-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, during his latest appearance in the National Football League (NFL).

The Houston Texans’ linebacker wore the black tape across his nose during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, days after he wore the name of Hind Rajab on his eye black, which led to an $11,941 fine by the NFL as he breached the league’s code of conduct on players’ clothing and equipment during a match against the Buffalo Bills on September 13.

However, basketball player Kyrie Irving stepped in and offered to pay the fine for Al-Shaair, who later confirmed that he had been in touch with the nine-time NBA All-Star.

Al-Shaair brushed off talk of the fine while speaking to reporters last week. “It’s bigger to me; what’s a life worth? Is a life worth $11,000? No, I think it’s priceless,” he said.

In his first match appearance since being fined, Al-Shaair took the field with “Wafaa Akila” written on his eye black, a sticker or paint frequently used by NFL players to reduce glare.

On September 6, the first day of school for the eight-year-old, she was killed along with her father in an Israeli attack in western Gaza as they were making their way home.

The Israeli drone struck their car, leaving it burned and charred, with only a few pages of Akila’s school books surviving the horrific attack. A few hours earlier, a smiling Akila posed for a photo before setting off for her first day of school.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has severely limited education for the Strip’s 660,000 children, with 90 percent of schools left damaged or destroyed.

Israel has killed at least 21,500 children since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Akila’s death was similar to that of Rajab, aged five, who was killed in Gaza after Israeli soldiers opened fire on her family’s stranded car on January 29, 2024. A phone call by the Palestine Red Crescent Society documented her final moments and was the subject of an Oscar-nominated docudrama.

Al-Shaair shared posts about Akila, as well as her mother’s reaction to the killing, on his Instagram account on Sunday.

Following the Texans’ match against the Bengals, a social media user posted a video that showed Al-Shaair interacting with children – some sporting keffiyehs, others who were amputees and were holding posters in support of the player – on the sidelines.

‘Be like Azeez Al-Shaair’

Al-Shaair, a Black American Muslim player, has frequently spoken about the plight of Palestinians and has paid the price for it.

He was also fined in January, during the NFL’s last season, for displaying the message “Stop The Genocide” on his nose tape. While it did not specifically refer to a particular conflict, it was widely understood to be about Gaza and Sudan.

Prominent American Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman has repeatedly voiced his support for Al-Shaair.

“My brother, who went to Jordan to be with Palestinian refugees this summer, who spends time with Palestinian children with missing limbs in Houston, who is using every week of his Pro Bowl NFL career to honour a Palestinian child despite the fines,” Suleiman wrote about Al-Shaair in a social media post on Sunday.

“In the sports and entertainment arenas run by many of the same types of people who run government, choose to be like Azeez Al-Shaair, Kyrie, and Macklemore.”

The NFL’s fine on Al-Shaair comes at a time when Robert Kraft, owner of the Boston-based team New England Patriots, confirmed that he pressured pop star Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour of the United States.

Basketball superstar Kyrie Irving has offered to pay a fine for American football player Azeez Al-Shaair, who was penalised for wearing the name of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Al-Shaair was handed a fine of $11,941 by the National Football League (NFL) on Wednesday as he was found to be in breach of the NFL’s rules on players’ equipment and clothing during his team Houston Texans’ game against the Buffalo Bills last weekend.

Shortly after the fine was announced by an NFL reporter on X, the pro-Palestine basketball player responded to the tweet by saying he would “take care” of it.

Al-Shaair, 29, is a linebacker for the Houston-based NFL team and a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights.

During his team’s last NFL game, Al-Shaair wrote Rajab’s name on his eye black, a sticker or paint frequently used by NFL players to reduce glare.

Five-year-old Rajab was killed in Gaza after Israeli soldiers opened fire on her family’s stranded car. A phone call by the Palestinian Red Crescent documented her final moments and was the subject of an Oscar-nominated docudrama.

Al-Shaair, a Black American Muslim player, has frequently spoken about the plight of Palestinians and has paid the price for it.

He was also fined in January, during the NFL’s last season, when he displayed the message “Stop The Genocide” on his nose tape. While it did not specifically refer to a particular conflict, it was widely understood to be about Gaza and Sudan.

NFL criticised for ‘inhumane’ fine on Al-Shaair

The NFL’s fine on Al-Shaair comes at a time when Robert Kraft, the owner of the Boston-based team New England Patriots, confirmed that he pressured pop star Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour of the United States.

The billionaire is the owner of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, one of the venues where Macklemore was due to appear on stage as the opening act for Sheeran’s US tour in late September.

Letting Macklemore perform in Gillette Stadium would, Kraft said, cross a line, as he described the rapper’s recent performances as including a “broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery”.

Kraft is known for launching a so-called “anti-Semitic campaign” during Israel’s genocide in Gaza in 2023, when players, coaches and executives from his Patriots team wore blue pins.

On October 15, 2023, the NFL observed a moment of silence for Israel during a game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Tennessee Titans in London, United Kingdom, while the league has sanctioned its player for raising awareness for Palestinians.

The NFL was criticised on social media for slapping a fine on Al-Shaair, with one user calling the move “inhumane”.

“He is advocating for the murder of this innocent child Hind Rajab in Palestine and they fine him?! Nah, that is so inhumane. You should be ashamed of yourself,” the user wrote.

Prominent American Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman questioned whether Al-Shaair would have faced a similar punishment if his tape carried the name of Holocaust victim Anne Frank instead.

“Why is honoring murdered Palestinian children ‘an unauthorized message’?” he asked in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations backed Al-Shaair over his continued advocacy for Palestinians.

“We commend Al-Shaair for using his platform to highlight the memory of Hind Rajab, one of the many children murdered by the Israeli government during its genocide in Gaza,” the rights group said in a statement on its website.

“The NFL has no problem with coaches wearing pins developed for genocide supporter Robert Kraft’s “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign, and it should have no problem with an NFL player mentioning the name of a girl killed in that genocide,” the statement went on to add.

“Al-Shaair’s message was rooted in basic human decency and concern for innocent lives. That should not be controversial, much less subject to a fine.”

Irving’s pro-Palestine stance

Meanwhile, nine-time National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Irving has previously made his pro-Palestine stance on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza clear.

In February, Irving wore a shirt reading “PRESS” at the NBA All-Star Game to honour journalists who had been killed in Gaza while covering the war.

According to reports, the tag on his shirt read: “Dedicated to our beloved journalists in Gaza showing the world the truth.”

In April, Irving changed his display picture on Instagram to an image of a Palestinian child blocked from attending school by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

During a pre-game interview in 2024, he was seen wearing a chain with the Palestine flag in the shape of Israel’s landmass.

In 2023, the basketball player wore a keffiyeh, a cotton headdress with a distinctive checkered pattern worn in many parts of the Arab world that represents Palestinian identity, during a post-match news conference.