One Direction singer Zayn Malik posted a tweet that is causing international headlines this morning regarding the crisis in Israel. And unlike Rihanna who removed her identical tweet last week, Malik has yet to take his statement down.
Sunday evening Malik tweeted the following:
As of Monday afternoon Malik's #FreePalestine tweet had over 160,000 retweets and even more "favorites." Of course, the stance was greeted by a massive amount of responses from people on both sides of the issues with some even issuing death threats towards the 21-year-old singer.
The Independent reports Malik, a Muslim, received a series of replies varying from disappointment to encouraging Malik to commit suicide or have others kill him.
"U have fans in #Israel. It broke me that one of my idols wand me to die @benwinstone @harry_styles @onedirection (sic)," one tweet read.
Article continues after slideshow
Israel Invades Gaza
The tweet follows fellow One Direction singer Harry Styles waving an inflatable hammer during a One Direction show in Barcelona earlier this month with the flag of Israel shown on the hammer. The International Business Times reports Styles was waving the hammer but didn't say anything regarding the situation. A YouTube clip of the incident shows Styles waving the hammer near the conclusion of the 67-second clip with the hammer briefly but clearly sporting the Israeli flag. That incident immediately caused a similar amount of praise and condemnation from fans on both sides of the issue.
Meanwhile, one musician who has thrown his support behind Malik is Naughty Boy, a musician who -- according to MTV UK -- collaborated with Malik as well as Emeli Sande and Sam Romans on a song entitled "One Chance To Dance." One hour before Malik's tweet Naughty Boy tweeted the following:
Portishead's Geoff Barrow also praised Malik for his stance:
One Direction have made no comment on Malik's tweet. The group recently released a trailer for their upcoming film "Where We Are" which began selling tickets to fans earlier today.
Other musicians have waded into the debate, too, including Rihanna, Eddie Vedder and Krist Novoselic.