Above photo: Cooper Neill/Getty.
Since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the US has intensified a crackdown on pro-Palestine advocacy.
Marked by censorship, deportation threats, and punitive sanctions.
Houston Texans linebacker Azeez al-Shaair was fined by the National Football League (NFL) for displaying a pro-Palestinian “Stop the genocide” message during a televised game, ESPN reported on 18 January.
The linebacker wore the message of solidarity beneath his eyes during a pre-game team address before Houston faced the New England Patriots, but removed the message before kickoff.
The brief display followed an earlier league penalty for wearing the same message during live play. Al-Shaair was fined $11,593 the previous week for violating NFL uniform rules that prohibit unapproved personal or political messaging, and was warned that repeating the act during games could lead to removal from play, a consequence he said he fully understood.
“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me,” he told reporters. “Things that are going on make people feel uncomfortable. Imagine how those people [Palestinians] feel.”
He added, “I have no affiliation, no connection to these people, other than the fact that I’m a human being.”
The message was written in solidarity with the Palestinians killed during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as Israeli army violations and severe restrictions on humanitarian aid continue to claim civilian lives despite a declared ceasefire.
Shaair has consistently used his platform to support Palestinian rights, including backing humanitarian causes through the NFL’s ‘My Cause, My Cleats’ initiative, while also questioning what he described as selective enforcement of league rules.
“If my platform can bring even a little hope to families in Palestine, then that is what I want to use it for,” the athlete said.
He also questioned what he described as selective enforcement, noting that other players have worn repeated eye-black messages without punishment.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations – a US Muslim civil rights group recently targeted by state-level blacklisting efforts – praised the move, stating, “We commend Houston Texans linebacker Azeez al-Shaair for using his platform to express opposition to genocide.”
Shaair’s stance drew widespread support online.
Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza over two years ago, monitoring groups documented an escalating, multi-layered crackdown on Palestinian advocacy.
The campaign has included widespread digital censorship, with Meta reportedly complying with 94 percent of Israeli takedown requests, leading to the removal or suppression of more than 30 million posts and the permanent banning of regional media outlets for their coverage.
Trump launched what was described as a “tsunami of repression,” using federal authority to detain and threaten the deportation of non-citizen students and activists over participation in lawful campus protests.
Washington also imposed sanctions on Palestinian human rights organizations and froze billions of dollars in university funding tied to tolerance of pro-Palestine activism.
The US House of Representatives recently passed legislation expanding the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to include certain criticisms of Israel, a move that directly opens the door to defunding institutions and repressing pro-Palestine speech on US campuses.
