Stephen Hawking backs boycott of Israeli academics

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

LONDON (AP) British physicist Stephen Hawking has dropped plans to attend a major international conference in Israel in June, citing his belief that he should respect a Palestinian call to boycott contacts with Israeli academics.

The University of Cambridge released a statement Wednesday indicating that Hawking had told the Israelis last week that he would not be attending "based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott."

University officials said earlier in the day they had "previously understood" that Hawking's decision was based solely on health concerns he is 71 and has severe disabilities but had now been told otherwise by Hawking's office.

The decision means that one of the world's most famous scientists has joined a boycott organized to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians. He is one of the most prominent figures to endorse the strategy, designed to bring pressure on the Israeli government.

The scientist had earlier agreed to attend the Israeli Presidential Conference, hosted by President Shimon Peres, in late June, but has now changed his mind. The theme of the meeting is "Facing Tomorrow 2013."

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20130508/EU--Britain-Israel-Hawking/

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

LONDON (AP) British physicist Stephen Hawking has dropped plans to attend a major international conference in Israel in June, citing his belief that he should respect a Palestinian call to boycott contacts with Israeli academics.

The University of Cambridge released a statement Wednesday indicating that Hawking had told the Israelis last week that he would not be attending "based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott."

University officials said earlier in the day they had "previously understood" that Hawking's decision was based solely on health concerns he is 71 and has severe disabilities but had now been told otherwise by Hawking's office.

The decision means that one of the world's most famous scientists has joined a boycott organized to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians. He is one of the most prominent figures to endorse the strategy, designed to bring pressure on the Israeli government.

The scientist had earlier agreed to attend the Israeli Presidential Conference, hosted by President Shimon Peres, in late June, but has now changed his mind. The theme of the meeting is "Facing Tomorrow 2013."

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20130508/EU--Britain-Israel-Hawking/

"....the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster."

- Stephen Hawking

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/uk-palestinians-israel-hawking-idUKBRE94709F20130508

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

The Churchill College Palestinian Studentship Fund

"Students and academics in Palestine face great difficulties and restrictions. They urgently need help to maintain contacts with the wider world." Stephen Hawking, Patron

Professor Stephen Hawking visiting staff and students at Birzeit University, Palestine in 2006.

This studentship, open to Palestinians, is for a one year post-graduate course at the University of Cambridge, as a student member of Churchill College. The aim is to develop an individual's expertise so that subsequently they may help improve future governance and economic development in Palestine. Participants will have the opportunity afforded to all Cambridge students to broaden their views and perspectives of the world.

Applicants will be Palestinian residing in the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem. There will be no maximum age and applicants may be male or female. They will be required to explain how their course of study will help them make a greater contribution to Palestinian society, with the expectation that they will return to Palestine after completing their course.

Applicants will have to be accepted for the course of their choice at the University of Cambridge. Requirements include holding a good first degree and proficiency in English.

The studentship will pay all university and college fees together with a substantial allowance towards living costs.

Patrons of the studentship are:

• Professor Stephen Hawking
• Lord Rees of Ludlow – President of the Royal Society
• Professor Nabeel Kassis – President, Birzeit University
• Professor Manuel Hassassian – Palestinian Authority Ambassador to London
• The Countess of Sandwich – Research Associate, Middle East Institute, SOAS

http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/alumni/development/palestinian_studentship.php

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Dersh chimes in

Alan Dershowitz calls Stephen Hawking an 'ignoramus,' a 'lemming,' and likely an anti-Semite

If Jews choose to assimilate, that's a question of free will, choice and freedom... But I defend Israel against its external enemies, external threats. My job is to protect Israel, the nation state of the Jewish people, along with many other people, from external threats so that Jews can obsess about their internal problems and drive themselves crazy. I want to get back to the point where we are divided and fight among each other and have these kinds of arguments-- as long as the Stephen Hawkings of the world leave us alone and don’t try and destroy us.

...

I have never met anybody except perhaps Palestinians who really give one good goddamn about the Palestinian people. The love of the Palestinian people is largely a function of the hatred of the nation state of the Jewish people. People who don’t care about the Kurds, who don’t care about the Armenians, who don’t care about the Tibetans, who didn’t give a damn about the Cambodians, who didn’t say a word about the people of Rwanda and the people of Darfur, suddenly have discovered the Palestinian people. The deep hatred that people have of Israel-- I'm not talking about criticism; I was very actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement, I remember how strongly we felt about white South Africa, it didn’t come close to the kind of hatred that many people feel today about Israel. Let me put it this way, Stephen Hawkings [sic] would not refuse to attend a conference in a country that was equally oppressing another country, say China and Tibet, or Russia and Chechnya-- it’s all about the fact that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. You cannot understand the hatred of Israel if you eliminate the fact that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. Is that anti-Semitism? You know-- you name it, I’m describing it.

...

No, it’s not about the occupation. If the occupation ended tomorrow, you would find the same... He [Hawking] accepted the invitation two months ago. What happened-- did the Israelis start the occupation in the last two months? He got a lot of pressure in 2 months. What we’re seeing is, Today if you go to dinner at a university dinner, and you speak up on behalf of Israel, in favor of Israel, it is an embarrassment. It is not an embarrassment because of what Israel is doing but because of what Israel is. And the BDS movement is growing and the BDS movement does not talk about the occupation. The occupation BDS talks about is the occupation of 1948, the occupation from the ocean to the sea.

...

They’ve never seen the West Bank. They are just being politically correct. They are being lemmings, who are being led the way the ignoramus Stephen Hawking who doesn’t know anything about the Middle East was led, by pressure from his fellow academics. That's what it's about today. It’s an embarrassment.

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/05/dershowitz-calls-hawking-an-ignoramus-a-lemming-and-likely-an-anti-semite.html#comment-561838

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Dersh chimes in

Alan is a putz, except when it comes to appellate law. Then he is brilliant, but on Israel and Jewish issues in general, he is a putz.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Alan is a putz, except when it comes to appellate law. Then he is brilliant, but on Israel and Jewish issues in general, he is a putz.

He's not making any sense at all.

"...as long as the Stephen Hawkings of the world leave us alone..." It's as if he doesn't even understand what a boycott is - it means exactly to leave Israel alone.