Azeez Al-Shaair told to remove name of Palestinian girl from eye black in Week 2

Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was told to remove the name of a Palestinian girl from his eye black during Week 2's game against the Bengals, according to Jonathan Jones of The Athletic.

Al-Shaair was prevented from honoring Wafaa Akila, an 8-year-old killed during an Israeli airstrike earlier this month. He was not fined for the message in Week 2, but the league's instruction to remove it came a week after the NFL fined him $11,941 for having the name "Hind Rajab" on his eye black strips in the season opener against the Bills.

The same pattern played out during the 2025 postseason. After Al-Shaair wore "stop the genocide" on his eye black during the wild-card win over the Steelers, the league told him he wouldn't be permitted to play if he tried to do it again in the divisional round at New England.

Al-Shaair has been outspoken about why he honors these names. "We don't have to have all the answers to everything to know that an innocent man, an innocent woman, an innocent child losing their life is not right," he told reporters last week. "I just know that's not right, whether they're here in America or somewhere halfway across the world."

The repeated enforcement highlights the league's stance on political messages in eye black, even as Al-Shaair continues to use the platform to draw attention to civilian casualties in the conflict.