One Direction's Zayn Malik -- I'm Definitely Pro-Palestine

Zayn Malik from One Direction has dared to go where Rihanna chickened out ... he just tweeted, "#FreePalestine."

The 21-year-old singer -- who grew up Muslim -- posted his comment Sunday night and lots of followers quickly reacted. One posted, "Are you still alive? You should be dead by now and kill yourself." Another said, "You and your family need to die."

Someone -- apparently in Israel -- wrote, "U have fans in #Israel. It broke me that one of my idols wand (sic) me to die."

Malik -- unlike Rihanna -- didn't back down. She removed an identical tweet 8 minutes after it was posted.