Zayn Malik probably wasn’t expecting the barrage of abuse he received from followers after he pledged his support for the #FreePalestine social media campaign.

The One Direction star, who was raised a Muslim, was bombarded with death threats and messages of complaint after he "did a Rihanna" and tweeted the hashtag to his 13million followers.

And to start with, Malik might have assumed his protest post was a popular decision: the tweet garnered over 130,000 retweets and 138,000 favourites in a matter of moments.

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But it soon became apparent that not everyone agreed with his opinion on the emotionally charged conflict, that has seen over 1,000 Palestinians perish in Gaza and 43 Israelis killed.

"U have fans in #Israel. It broke me that one of my idols wand me to die @benwinstone @harry_styles @onedirection [sic]," one of the lighter tweets at him read.

The heavier ones from pro-Israel fans included calls for him to "kill himself" or to let them kill him instead.

Of course, Malik isn’t the first famous face to tweet about the conflict. Rihanna forced a similar reaction when she posted #FreePalestine via her official account, only to delete it minutes later.

Shape Created with Sketch. 1D: Crazy things Directioners say Show all 20 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. 1D: Crazy things Directioners say 1/20 One Direction 'I'm so jealous of everyone that meets One Direction. Then again if I met Harry I would hyperventilate, suffocate and die so...' - @m_a_g_z_i_e 2/20 One Direction 'If I ever received a tweet from anyone in One Direction I'd literally die on the spot and I want my obituary and tombstone to blame them.' - @aurosan 3/20 One Direction 'When I die, I want the One Direction 'Talk Dirty to Me' video displayed at my funeral, on a screen projected over my casket, playing non stop, thank you.' - @zaynlikespayne 4/20 One Direction 'I cannot speak I want to write the word 'love' everywhere and tell everyone I love One Direction more than anything ever.' - @sneezeharrys 5/20 One Direction 'I'm in the 'I'm gonna die alone with 8 cats and my posters of One Direction don't breath near me or I'll punch you' mood.' - @nouisteenagers 6/20 One Direction 'HARRY. YOU ARE NOT A GOD DAMN MAN WHORE. YOU ARE A CUPCAKE. JESUS.' - @daddyslittlelou 7/20 One Direction When 1D were on the cover of GQ magazine: 'The GQ pictures make me want to stab myself in the uterus!' - @ziallsafari 8/20 One Direction 'I hope that I die before any of the boys in One Direction does cause I will not be able to even move if they go before I do.' - @pokeniall 9/20 One Direction Another GQ response read: 'Holy. C**p. The boys on the cover of GQ magazine. Someone shoot me. Push me off a cliff. Stab me!' - @wafaastalks 10/20 One Direction 'Person: Why do you love One Direction? Me: Why do you breathe? Person: If I didn't I'd die. Me: Exactly.' - @idrugsharry 11/20 One Direction 'Don't hate on Louis you f**king a******s or I will shove bleach into your a******s and pull out your eyes with a spork.' - @fxkinlouis 12/20 One Direction 'When are you in public and a One Direction song comes on and your kidneys rupture and then you die.' - @harryhasbooty 13/20 One Direction 'If One Direction were falling off a cliff and I could only save one then I'd shoot myself so we could all die and meet in heaven' - @austinrahone 14/20 One Direction ''One Direction is goin' to be the next to break up'. If you don't shut up I will break your neck and pray for you to die.' - @bubblegumniall 15/20 One Direction 'My friend doesn't like One Direction and I told her that if she said something rude on Twitter she would die.' - @flashing1D 16/20 One Direction 'Do you ever feel like you want to scream and cry and laugh and smile and die because of One Direction. Because same.' - @chenloves1d 17/20 One Direction 'When Niall cuddles someone or something and his cheeks do the thing I die.' - @daintyiero 18/20 One Direction 'My parents always say 'They're gonna die down' and 'You'll grow out of them'. No f**k you I'm getting One Direction tattooed across my face.' - @calumshoran 19/20 One Direction 'Dear One Direction, you stole my heart but that's okay. I like my boys like I like my tea - hot and British with some Irish creme.' - @torii_rakusx 20/20 One Direction 'Imagine Niall barging into the church and saying 'I OBJECT' to your marriage because he loves you.' - @niamhabitat 1/20 One Direction 'I'm so jealous of everyone that meets One Direction. Then again if I met Harry I would hyperventilate, suffocate and die so...' - @m_a_g_z_i_e 2/20 One Direction 'If I ever received a tweet from anyone in One Direction I'd literally die on the spot and I want my obituary and tombstone to blame them.' - @aurosan 3/20 One Direction 'When I die, I want the One Direction 'Talk Dirty to Me' video displayed at my funeral, on a screen projected over my casket, playing non stop, thank you.' - @zaynlikespayne 4/20 One Direction 'I cannot speak I want to write the word 'love' everywhere and tell everyone I love One Direction more than anything ever.' - @sneezeharrys 5/20 One Direction 'I'm in the 'I'm gonna die alone with 8 cats and my posters of One Direction don't breath near me or I'll punch you' mood.' - @nouisteenagers 6/20 One Direction 'HARRY. YOU ARE NOT A GOD DAMN MAN WHORE. YOU ARE A CUPCAKE. JESUS.' - @daddyslittlelou 7/20 One Direction When 1D were on the cover of GQ magazine: 'The GQ pictures make me want to stab myself in the uterus!' - @ziallsafari 8/20 One Direction 'I hope that I die before any of the boys in One Direction does cause I will not be able to even move if they go before I do.' - @pokeniall 9/20 One Direction Another GQ response read: 'Holy. C**p. The boys on the cover of GQ magazine. Someone shoot me. Push me off a cliff. Stab me!' - @wafaastalks 10/20 One Direction 'Person: Why do you love One Direction? Me: Why do you breathe? Person: If I didn't I'd die. Me: Exactly.' - @idrugsharry 11/20 One Direction 'Don't hate on Louis you f**king a******s or I will shove bleach into your a******s and pull out your eyes with a spork.' - @fxkinlouis 12/20 One Direction 'When are you in public and a One Direction song comes on and your kidneys rupture and then you die.' - @harryhasbooty 13/20 One Direction 'If One Direction were falling off a cliff and I could only save one then I'd shoot myself so we could all die and meet in heaven' - @austinrahone 14/20 One Direction ''One Direction is goin' to be the next to break up'. If you don't shut up I will break your neck and pray for you to die.' - @bubblegumniall 15/20 One Direction 'My friend doesn't like One Direction and I told her that if she said something rude on Twitter she would die.' - @flashing1D 16/20 One Direction 'Do you ever feel like you want to scream and cry and laugh and smile and die because of One Direction. Because same.' - @chenloves1d 17/20 One Direction 'When Niall cuddles someone or something and his cheeks do the thing I die.' - @daintyiero 18/20 One Direction 'My parents always say 'They're gonna die down' and 'You'll grow out of them'. No f**k you I'm getting One Direction tattooed across my face.' - @calumshoran 19/20 One Direction 'Dear One Direction, you stole my heart but that's okay. I like my boys like I like my tea - hot and British with some Irish creme.' - @torii_rakusx 20/20 One Direction 'Imagine Niall barging into the church and saying 'I OBJECT' to your marriage because he loves you.' - @niamhabitat

In its place, she posted the far more balanced: "Let's pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope?....[sic]"

Meanwhile, Piers Morgan was branded "Zionist scum" for his stream of tweets on the topic of Israel-Gaza, in which he helpfully declared things like "I like Jews. I like Arabs" and "Same nonsense made Northern Ireland a murderous tinderbox for 30 years".