Azeez Al-Shaair’s anti-genocide note: Muslims tackle NFL fine with charity

Palestinian rights advocates are raising charitable donations in the name of American football player Azeez Al-Shaair, who was fined by the National Football League for displaying an anti-genocide message on his nose tape.

Nimrah Riaz, founder of Siraat Strategies, a sports consulting firm focused on Muslims, said people in the community wanted to turn the $11,593 penalty against the Houston Texans’ linebacker into something positive.

Al-Shaair wore nose tape captioned “Stop the Genocide” during a pre-game TV interview last week, without specifically referring to a particular conflict. But the message was widely understood to be about the atrocities in Gaza and Sudan.

“If Azeez was going to use his platform to stand up for humanity, and there was going to be a financial consequence, instead of that moment ending in punishment, the community chose to redirect it, so we can all collectively raise funds towards Palestine and Sudan for those who actually need it,” Riaz told media.

Former NFL player Husain Abdullah donated $11,593 to the charity Human Development Fund (HDF) in response to the fine. A separate, ongoing fundraiser by Riaz on the platform Launchgood also aims to donate the same amount to HDF.

Despite the vagueness of Al-Shaair’s note, ESPN reported that the league fined the player for violating its uniform rules.

Leading rights groups and United Nations investigators have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, an effort to destroy the Palestinian people in full or in part.

Warning against anti-genocide message

Al-Shaair displayed the same note on his face on Sunday on the sidelines of another game – against the New England Patriots – but he did not wear it during gametime.

The player later said he was threatened with being removed from the game if he kept the message.

The linebacker said he accepted the fine but did not understand the warning not to wear the message during the game.

Al-Shaair underscored that non-sporting messages displayed by other players resulted only in financial penalties.

“I knew that that was a fine. I understood what I was doing,” he told reporters in the dressing room. “But I was told if I wore that in the game, I would be pulled out of the game. So, I think that was the part that I was confused about.”

It is not clear who issued the warning to Al-Shaair. The Houston Texans team did not respond to media’s request for comment by the time of publication.

While most professional sport leagues in the world attempt to present themselves as politically neutral, critics say athletes who speak out for Palestinian rights in the US and the West are especially scorned and punished.

In 2023, the NFL teams held pre-game moments of silence in honour of Israelis killed during Hamas’s October 7 attack – a gesture that ignored the suffering in Gaza as the Palestinian death toll from the horrific Israeli response was mounting.

Some teams also released individual statements in support of Israel at that time.

Several NFL team owners are outspoken supporters of Israel – most notably the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, a major donor for pro-Israel groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The NFL emerged as a flashpoint in 2016 after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the US national anthem to protest racism and police brutality in the US.

Critics of the move accused Kaepernick of disrespecting national symbols and called on the league to intervene. But the player’s supporters praised him for his willingness to stand up to injustice despite potential repercussions for his career.

Kaepernick was not signed by any team after he became a free agent at the end of that season.

With Kaepernick out, other players continued his kneeling protest.

In 2018, the NFL issued a policy requiring players to stand during the anthem or stay in the locker room after mounting criticism and calls for a boycott by President Donald Trump and his allies.

‘Unspoken expectation’

The NFL does allow limited advocacy through the “My Cause My Cleats” campaign – an initiative that lets players display messages on their boots.

Al-Shaair has used the programme to raise donations for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) with shoes featuring the word “free” and data about the atrocities in Gaza.

But his recent nose tape message has elevated his activism at a time when Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer from near-daily Israeli attacks in the bitter cold amid a lack of shelters despite the Trump-brokered “ceasefire”.

Riaz said Muslim athletes face “heightened consequences” for speaking out for Palestine, so there is an “unspoken expectation” for them to remain silent on the issue.

She added that Muslim Americans in Texas and beyond are responding positively to Al-Shaair’s message and trying to reach out to him for speaking engagements. “The community is loving it,” Riaz told media.

Earlier this week, the Houston chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the NFL should not fine a player for rejecting genocide.

“Azeez 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,” CAIR-Houston director of operations Imran Ghani said in a statement.

But Al-Shaair’s note angered many pro-Israel advocates, with some calling for penalising and suspending him.

“If ‘Stop the genocide’ is anti-Israeli, what does that say about Israelis?” one social media user remarked in a viral comment on X.