Harry Styles's eagle-eyed fans are keen to keep track of all of his social media developments, so him following a British-Israeli writer didn't go unnoticed by certain factions of the Directioner 'fandom' as they call themselves. As the conflict between Israel and Palestine is getting more severe, 100 Palestinian civilians were killed on Sunday alone in missile attacks in Gaza, people were up in arms about who he chooses to follow on Twitter.
Following the opprobrium Rihanna got when she tweeted #FreePalestine and the insults lobbed at Piers Morgan after he tweeted using the hashtag #FreePalestineAndIsrael, Harry got a lot of hate online after it was noted by social media snoopers that he had followed an Israeli writer.
His pal Ben Winston (a Jewish comedy writer who writes treatments for loads of One Direction's videos) had Tweeted a link to an article by Lliana Bird, titled Why I'm Pro-Israel And Pro-Palestine. The piece details the difference between Palestine and Israel in this conflict – Israel have invested lots in their defences whereas, she says, Hamas, who are fighting on behalf of Palestine, are using Palestinians as 'human shields.'
She weighs up different factors involved in the conflict, then adds: 'For while we all sit here trying to justify who is right/who is wrong/who has claim to the land/who was here first/who is provoking who, innocent people are dying. For every fact I have given you above to justify Israel's actions there no doubt is a counter fact a Palestinian could give.'
She added: 'People on both sides MUST both see the truth that we are all just humans and break the cycle of hate, joining instead together in our demands with our leaders for peace.'
Presumably after he'd read the piece, Harry started following Lliana on Twitter. Cue lots of hate from anti-Israel Tweeters:
However, when it comes to Harry's IRL actions, he attended his bandmate Louis Tomlinson's mum Johanna Poulston's wedding at the weekend, and something tells us that it probably isn't kosher in any religion or culture to turn up to a wedding with a shirt buttoned halfway down your chest. Even if you are rock and roll star Harry Styles.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Picture: Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.