One Direction star Zayn Malik voiced out his views on the Gaza conflict by taking on to Twitter - with disastrous results.
On Sunday, July 27, the 21-year-old Malik tweeted, "#FreePalestine" to his 13 million followers. The controversial tweet, which hasn't even spent 24 hours online, was already retweeted about 170,000 times as of this writing. It sparked debates among his followers, some siding with Malik for standing up for his views, and worse, some people sending death threats to the singer.
Yahoo Celebrity News in UK and Ireland reported fans saying, "#ZaynYouHaveFansInIsrael You disappointment me so much! how can you say that? U have no idea how much we loveu, you break our heart @zaynmalik."
Another tweeted, "Tweeting "Free Palestine" is pretty much the least hot thing a person can do. With a heavy heart, I remove Zayn Malik from my to-do list."
Mirror also said that Israeli fans began blasting the star, telling him to "kill himself" and threatening, "Let me kill you."
According to The Daily Mail, the pop singer's mother, Trisha Malik was born to a white British working class family. Her parents ran a pub, but her life changed when she met and married a British Pakistani, and converted to Islam.
The site also added that Trisha Malik told the BBC last year, "I've always tried to learn as much as I can about my husband's religion and culture. I made sure the children went to the mosque. Zayn has read the Koran three times."
Zayn isn't the first celebrity to voice out their opinion on the Gaza issue. According to E Online, Rihanna tweeted and deleted the same #FreePalestine hashtag. Hours later, she posted another tweet, writing, "Let's pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope?..."
In addition to Malik and Rihanna, Selena Gomez also had something to say about the conflict. The young star took to Instagram and said, "It's about humanity. Pray for Gaza." and added a personal message that reads, "Please pray for those families and babies today. 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."
