Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined more than $11,000 for an unauthorized message written on his eye black in their 36-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Al-Shaair was fined $11,492 on Tuesday, along with three other Texans for various infractions, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. Al-Shaair wrote “Hind Rajab” across his eye black in a nod to a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli military in 2024.
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The fine was not due to the pro-Palestinian message specifically. Al-Shaair would have been fined by the league for any unauthorized message written on his eye black, as that is a violation of NFL rules. Other players across the league were also fined for equipment-related infractions in Week 1, including David Montgomery for an unauthorized logo on his cleats and Trent Brown for socks that didn’t cover his lower leg, for example.
The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged for the first time last month that it opened fire on the vehicle that was carrying Rajab in Gaza in January 2024, according to CNN. She was one of seven family members traveling in a vehicle in northern Gaza when they came under Israeli fire, according to the report.
Rajab initially survived, and could be heard in a recording of a phone call to Palestinian responders begging for them to come and rescue her while she was trapped in the car with her dead relatives. An ambulance dispatched to save her later came under fire. Rajab was found dead 12 days later. The Israeli military initially denied involvement in the killing before acknowledging last month that it did open fire on the vehicle after a criminal investigation into the incident was opened.
Al-Shaair has been fined for writing messages on his eye black in the past. He was hit with a similar fine last season after writing “stop the genocide” on his eye black in the team’s wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. He said after that game that he knew what he was doing and that a fine would be coming, but he didn’t care.
“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me, the things that are going on,” Al-Shaair said. “It makes people uncomfortable, imagine how those people feel. I think that’s the biggest thing. I have no affiliation, no connection to these people other than the fact that I’m a human being. If you have a heart, then you are a human being and you can see what’s going on in the world and check yourself real quick. When I’m walking off this field, that’s the type of stuff that goes through my head that I have to check myself when I’m sitting here crying about football when there’s people dying every day.”
Al-Shaair had a team-high eight tackles in their loss to the Bills on Sunday at NRG Stadium. The 29-year-old had 103 total tackles and two interceptions last season while earning the first Pro Bowl nod of his career.
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