Azeez Al-Shaair tried for the second consecutive week to mark his eyeblack with an anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian message last week, but backed down when an NFL official told him he’d be removed from the game if he persisted, an NFL source told OutKick.
Al-Shaair, a linebacker for the Houston Texans, was fined $11,492 in Week 1 when he inscribed the name of slain Palestinian girl Hind Rajab on his eyeblack to highlight her death during a bombing in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force.
The NFL prohibits the display of personal messages by players throughout game day.
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Al-Shaair, who is Muslim, was undeterred by the cost of the Week 1 fine because he came out for warmups before the Week 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals wearing the name of another Palestinian girl – Wafaa Akila – on his eyeblack.
The eyeblack inscription remained even when the game began but then an NFL official spotted it, according to the league source, and informed the Texans and Al-Shaair he must remove it or he’d be removed from the game altogether.
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The threat of not being able to play apparently convinced Al-Shaair to do something the threat of being fined again obviously did not. He removed the eyeblack and played the entire rest of the game without any eyeblack.
The threat of fines is not important to Al-Shaair. He signed a three-year contract extension worth $54 million in April.
He also did not appeal last week’s fine.
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“What’s a life worth?” Al-Shaair told reporters last week when questioned about the fine and his anti-Israel campaign. “Is a life worth $11,000? I think it’s priceless. So, to sit there and say that, ‘Oh man, the money’ and whatever, that wasn’t relevant to me.”
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But playing time obviously is relevant to Al-Shaair, who is now basically on the NFL’s radar for repeatedly trying to amplify pro-Palestine and anti-Israeli messages on game days.
In January, the linebacker was fined $11,593 for wearing eyeblack on which he inscribed the slogan “Stop the Genocide.”
So is the NFL cracking down on Al-Shaair personally?
No.
The league has a long history of not allowing players to share personal messaging. And it has a long history of cautioning players that if they persist, they will be removed from games.
Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon was told prior to Super Bowl XX in 1986 that he must abstain from wearing a headband with messages or would not be allowed to play.
Maxx Crosby, Odell Beckham and A.J. Brown have been told during various times they must change out of personalized cleats or be removed from a game.
Last week, Arizona Cardinals defensive back Kei’Trel Clark was fined when he inscribed his eyeblack with the message “Glory B 2 God.”
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Why does the NFL have this policy when it actually inscribes messages on its fields every game day? Simple:
The league wants to maintain consistency in how its teams and players look and avoid, as one source put it, “the wild west out there.”
That is clearly the right approach.
If the NFL allowed players to express their individualism by marking up their uniforms, helmets, eyeblack, cleats, or themselves, it’s impossible to predict in what direction those personalized messages would go.
Al-Shaair is an example of that. He is not an honest broker about what is happening in Gaza or in the Hamas-Israel conflict.
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He has a certain worldview about the Middle East and that’s what he’s trying to amplify on the NFL stage.
He has highlighted, what is in the case of Rajab, the death of an innocent Palestinian girl. But he has never mentioned the death of all the innocent Israeli boys and girls that preceded it on Oct. 7, 2023.
And he has never mentioned the way Hamas uses children as shields, couriers, and even as weapons transporters while the IDF holds fire.
The Houston Texans play visit the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The NFL will be watching.
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