A prominent human rights lawyer has spoken of his distress after his Twitter account was hacked.

A Tweet under the username @JoshBornstein promoted a racist message to users which promted outrage from others users worldwide.

The tweet read, “My fellow Jews, the time to start killing Arabs is NOW. The only good Arab is a dead one. Exterminate the Arab cockroaches.”

The account with the username @JoshBornstein was then suspended. It now transpires that the Twitter address may have been hacked by white supremacists.

Writing in the Guardian recently, Mr Bornstein said, "I deplore racism and have been very vocal in support of strong laws against racial vilification and race hate. I have also criticised the Israeli government’s conduct towards the Palestinian people, most recently during the 2014 Gaza conflict.

"I had become a victim of identity theft."

According to ‘The Twitter Rules,’ “Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post threats of violence against others or promote violence against others.”