One Direction superstar Zayn Malik has been bombarded with hate tweets and death threats just minutes after he expressed his support to the #FreePalestine campaign on social media.
Malik, who was born and raised as a Muslim, finally weighed in on the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine’s Hamas militants after more than a thousand people have been killed since hostilities broke out three weeks ago.
After the One Direction star tweeted “#FreePalestine” to his 130 million followers on Sunday night, he began receiving an immediate wave of hate messages, complaints and even death threats from Israeli supporters, The Independent reported.
One posted: “Are you still alive? You should be dead by now and kill yourself.” Another said, “You and your family need to die,” TMZ reported.
“U have fans in #Israel. It broke me that one of my idols wand (sic) me to die,” another user said who is apparently from Israel.
Racist remarks also flooded Malik’s tweet. One user, @IslamExposedOrg, said: “Wouldn’t expect anything less from someone who grew up in a Muslim house. Jewaphobia is a foundation of Islam.”
But of course, many One Direction fans are also quick to defend the 21-year-old singer.
“@zaynmalik The children of Gaza don’t deserve to live the way they do! #FreeGaza,” one user said.
Another said: “@zaynmalik do not listen to those stupid please, I am Palestinian. and you’re a sweetheart. Thank you Zayn [sic].”
The post was re-tweeted and favorited more then 205,000 times as of Tuesday, 10 a.m. EDT. Many asked Malik to delete it but the singer remained firm, and the tweet is still up as of posting time.
Malik, like Rihanna, is one of the few celebrities who has been bashed on Twitter for supporting Gaza. But unlike Malik, Rihanna deleted her tweet eight minutes after posting and tweeted a more balanced statement that said: “Let’s pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope?….[sic]”
