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PROF. STEPHEN HAWKING JOINS ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
May 8, 2013 - 11:47 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic
boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli
president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment
of Palestinians, The Guardian reports.
Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, had accepted
an invitation to headline the fifth annual president's conference,
Facing Tomorrow, in June, which features major international
personalities, attracts thousands of participants and this year will
celebrate Peres's 90th birthday.
Hawking is in very poor health, but last week he wrote a brief letter
to the Israeli president to say he had changed his mind. He has not
announced his decision publicly, but a statement published by the
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine with Hawking's
approval described it as "his independent decision to respect the
boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous
advice of his own academic contacts there".
Hawking's decision marks another victory in the campaign for boycott,
divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli academic institutions.
In April the Teachers' Union of Ireland became the first lecturers'
association in Europe to call for an academic boycott of Israel, and in
the United States members of the Association for Asian American Studies
voted to support a boycott, the first national academic group to do so.
In the four weeks since Hawking's participation in the Jerusalem event
was announced, he has been bombarded with messages from Britain and
abroad as part of an intense campaign by boycott supporters trying to
persuade him to change his mind. In the end, Hawking told friends, he
decided to follow the advice of Palestinian colleagues who unanimously
agreed that he should not attend.
By participating in the boycott, Hawking joins a small but growing
list of British personalities who have turned down invitations to
visit Israel, including Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Brian Eno,
Annie Lennox and Mike Leigh.
However, many artists, writers and academics have defied and even
denounced the boycott, calling it ineffective and selective. Ian
McEwan, who was awarded the Jerusalem Prize in 2011, responded to
critics by saying: "If I only went to countries that I approve of,
I probably would never get out of bed ... It's not great if everyone
stops talking."
Hawking has visited Israel four times in the past. Most recently,
in 2006, he delivered public lectures at Israeli and Palestinian
universities as the guest of the British embassy in Tel Aviv. At the
time, he said he was "looking forward to coming out to Israel and
the Palestinian territories and excited about meeting both Israeli
and Palestinian scientists".
Since then, his attitude to Israel appears to have hardened. In 2009,
Hawking denounced Israel's three-week attack on Gaza, telling Riz
Khan on Al-Jazeera that Israel's response to rocket fire from Gaza
was "plain out of proportion ... The situation is like that of South
Africa before 1990 and cannot continue."
The office of President Peres, which has not yet announced Hawking's
withdrawal, did not respond to requests for comment. Hawking's name
has been removed from the speakers listed on the official website.
May 8, 2013 - 11:47 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic
boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli
president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment
of Palestinians, The Guardian reports.
Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, had accepted
an invitation to headline the fifth annual president's conference,
Facing Tomorrow, in June, which features major international
personalities, attracts thousands of participants and this year will
celebrate Peres's 90th birthday.
Hawking is in very poor health, but last week he wrote a brief letter
to the Israeli president to say he had changed his mind. He has not
announced his decision publicly, but a statement published by the
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine with Hawking's
approval described it as "his independent decision to respect the
boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous
advice of his own academic contacts there".
Hawking's decision marks another victory in the campaign for boycott,
divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli academic institutions.
In April the Teachers' Union of Ireland became the first lecturers'
association in Europe to call for an academic boycott of Israel, and in
the United States members of the Association for Asian American Studies
voted to support a boycott, the first national academic group to do so.
In the four weeks since Hawking's participation in the Jerusalem event
was announced, he has been bombarded with messages from Britain and
abroad as part of an intense campaign by boycott supporters trying to
persuade him to change his mind. In the end, Hawking told friends, he
decided to follow the advice of Palestinian colleagues who unanimously
agreed that he should not attend.
By participating in the boycott, Hawking joins a small but growing
list of British personalities who have turned down invitations to
visit Israel, including Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Brian Eno,
Annie Lennox and Mike Leigh.
However, many artists, writers and academics have defied and even
denounced the boycott, calling it ineffective and selective. Ian
McEwan, who was awarded the Jerusalem Prize in 2011, responded to
critics by saying: "If I only went to countries that I approve of,
I probably would never get out of bed ... It's not great if everyone
stops talking."
Hawking has visited Israel four times in the past. Most recently,
in 2006, he delivered public lectures at Israeli and Palestinian
universities as the guest of the British embassy in Tel Aviv. At the
time, he said he was "looking forward to coming out to Israel and
the Palestinian territories and excited about meeting both Israeli
and Palestinian scientists".
Since then, his attitude to Israel appears to have hardened. In 2009,
Hawking denounced Israel's three-week attack on Gaza, telling Riz
Khan on Al-Jazeera that Israel's response to rocket fire from Gaza
was "plain out of proportion ... The situation is like that of South
Africa before 1990 and cannot continue."
The office of President Peres, which has not yet announced Hawking's
withdrawal, did not respond to requests for comment. Hawking's name
has been removed from the speakers listed on the official website.