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19 March 2024

One Direction star Zayn Malik gets death threats over Palestine comment

Zayn Malik of One Direction performs live at Radio 1's Big Weekend at Glasgow Green on May 24, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Getty Images)

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By Staff

The 21-year-old One Direction star Zayn Malik shared #FreePalestine hashtag on Twitter.

Now the popular singer with 13million followers, who retweeted the message 140,000 times, is bombarded with death threats by outraged Israelis after his post.

Moments after it was posted, fans began blasting the star, telling him to "kill himself" and threatening: "Let me kill you."

One wrote: "Zayn should say what he said I mean if we're such a terrorists like he said why wouldn't we kill him for saying that huh @zaynmalik [sic]."

Some fans said the comment would result in him losing a fanbase in Israel.

Zayn isn't the first celebrity to be criticised for showing their support for Palestine.

Pop princess Rihanna also caused a stir posting a message of support to her 36.4 million followers a few weeks ago. It simply read: #FreePalestine.

It was removed quickly, but not before it had been retweeted thousands of times and had sparked a flurry of replies.

But according to TMZ, sources close to the 26-year-old singer said she never meant to post it.

Selena Gomez also spoke her mind about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and faced the wrath of Twitter trolls.

The 21-year-old star posted an image on Instagram that said: “It’s About Humanity. Pray for Gaza.”

The post instantly received more than 600,000 likes. But the Instagram post also brought insta-anger.

Selena quickly let her fans know that she wasn’t taking sides, only saying her opinion by posting a second photo of herself meditating on the beach saying, “And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides. I am praying for peace and humanity for all!”

“Please pray for those families and babies today,” it continued. “Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration.”

British band Coldplay also received thousands of comments, after posting a link on their Facebook page for a music video by OneWorld entitled “Freedom for Palestine”.

Even players are draw into this debate.

England batsman Moeen Ali has been banned from wearing wristbands featuring the slogans "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine", the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday.
 
Moeen, who is Muslim and of Pakistani descent, helped raise funds for charities working with those affected by the three-week conflict with Israel.

He wore the wristbands on Monday's second day of the third test against India at Southampton.
 
Moeen, 27, risked disciplinary action under the ICC Code of Conduct, which forbids players wearing, displaying or conveying messages through arm bands or other items on clothing or equipment without prior approval.