NBA player’s profile image shows a Palestinian child blocked from school by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. Published On 22 Apr 202622 Apr 2026Famed basketball player Kyrie Irving changed his social media profile picture to an image of a Palestinian child blocked from attending school by Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The picture on Irving’s Instagram, which boasts 20.2 million followers, shows a young Palestinian boy sitting with a book as he turns around to look at Israeli soldiers standing behind a barbed wire fence just behind him.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listEarlier this month, Palestinian schoolchildren in Umm al-Khair, in the occupied West Bank, found a barbed wire fence blocking their route to school roughly 1km (0.6 miles) away. Despite the barrier being erected by settlers without legal authorisation, soldiers have refused to take down the barrier in a community that faces imminent Israeli demolition orders later this month due to a lack of building permits. Such permits are rarely granted to Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, which is entirely under the control of Israel.When the children, some as young as five years old, tried to go around the fence, soldiers launched tear gas and sound grenades at them. Shortly after the fence went up, a large Star of David was built with stones by settlers on the side of the fence that the Palestinian schoolchildren can no longer access.The community subsequently launched a march as part of a new initiative – “the Umm al-Khair Freedom School” – walking alongside the schoolchildren right up to the fence as the children banged on drums and sang defiant songs …
