Leading Physicist Stephen Hawking has created an international stir by joining a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and travel to Israel after sending a letter declining an invitation to attend the President’s Conference. While Cambridge originally claimed that Hawking was not attending due to his health, Hawking sent a letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres saying that he was in fact boycotting Israel due to its Palestinian policies.
The letter was an embarrassment for the University of Cambridge which appeared like it was trying to spin the declination of the invitation for reasons of health. Tim Holt, acting communications director at the University of Cambridge, issued a statement that tied the decision to Hawking’s continued struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Lou Gehrig’s disease:”For health reasons, his doctors said he should not be flying at the moment so he’s decided not to attend. He is 71 years old. He’s fine, but he has to be sensible about what he can do.”
However, Hawking sent a letter to Peres clearly stating that he was refusing on principle to travel to the conference in Israel. Hawking described Israel’s treatment and policy of the Palestinians as a “disaster” and reprehensible. Hawking stated that he initially accepted the invitation with the intention to speak out against the policies: “Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.” He then explained that “I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement, but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank. However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”
There are various groups of academics supporting the boycott of Israeli products as well as academic and cultural ties with Israel, including a group with Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus. The boycott has also received support of groups this year like the Asian American Studies Association. Various divestment policies have been proposed or passed at American academic institutions.
Ironically, MIT linguistics professor and political author Noam Chomsky actually opposed the ban by scholars but was himself banned from Israel simply because of his political views by the Israeli government.
The Hawking controversy reveals a deepening divide among academics in the United States over the boycott — an increasingly heated debate. The Hawking decision comes as Israel has ordered the building of new settlements opposed by the United States and the world community as well as a report this year from the United Nations stating that Israeli have taken a “heavy toll” on the rights and sovereignty of Palestinians. The U.N. complained about the creeping annexation” by Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Others have disagreed that such boycotts are productive and insist that more interaction with Israel is better for pushing reforms. Israel Maimon, chairman of the Presidential Conference, added this week that “Israel is a democracy in which all individuals are free to express their opinions, whatever they may be. The imposition of a boycott is incompatible with open, democratic dialogue.”
The response to Hawking from conservative publications have been extreme. One such site asked “Would Professor Hawking ever survive in any Arab country or under the Palestinian autocracy he shamefully defends?” The Israeli publication noted that “[w]hile in the Arab world disabled people have been called ‘the invisibles,’ because they are segregated and hidden from the public eye, Israel’s work with illness and disabilities would merit a book in itself.”
Hawking’s letter has put the boycott and divestment movement on the front pages of international newspapers and is likely to rekindle the debate on U.S. campuses.
Gaza, the new Warsaw ghetto.
Stephen Hawking Joins Academic Boycott Of Israel
Ironic that the technology that permits Hawking to communicate was developed in Israel.
Well I guess he already got his punishment.
Stephen Hawking – Living proof that G-d has an ironic sense of humor.
Tell hawking to boycott all israeli products then dump him out of his wheelchair and take away his computer then tell him they are all israeli made products.
Tell Hawking to boycott all Israeli products.
Israeli medical and Pharmaceuticals discoveries
Israeli company formulates a drug that ‘trains’ the immune system to seek and destroy malignant cells that have already invaded the body. Cancer cells,headquartered at the Weizmann Science Park, Nes –Ziona, Israel. Vaxil BioTherapeutics Ltd. is a clinical stage company developing a new class of synthetic drugs.
Israeli Red Hill Biopharma has developed a new drug that will prevent nausea and vomiting in cancer patients.
ImMucin, a vaccine that targets a molecule present in 90 percent of all cancers was conducted at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem and consisted of ten patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells in bone marrow, have now received the vaccine.
Read more at
Check-Cap – The first non-invasive, prep-free imaging test for colon cancer. The patient simply swallows the Check-Cap capsule and continues his or her daily life low energy X-rays that provide a much different look at the internal anatomy.
Israeli Parkinson‚s drug approved by FDA
Israeli Doctor Heads Merck Team That Has Developed Gardasil Vaccine.
Alzheimer’s drugs discovery at Weizmann Institute of Science not FDA approved yet.
Israel Teva has novel treatments for MS……
Israeli Ataxia Telangiectasia is a devastating and rare genetic disease with … Analysis of the DNA from tumor cells and the patient’s blood cells….
Israeli scientists have identified a substance that can kill cancerous cells ….
Israel Meitav isurgical device to treat obesity….
Israeli cancer drug discovery company Optimata Ltd gets $1.5B…
Israel Protalex autoimmune disorders approved by FDA …
Foamix Ltd is specializing in dermatologic skin disorders.
EPIX Initiates Phase II Clinical Trial of EP-2104R For Blood Clot Detection Using MRI……
Israeli Rosetta test accurately classified non-small cell lung cancer samples into squamous or non-squamous cancers Israeli Rosetta shares up 44% after positive study results……
Fibrin sealants are tissue adhesives that can be used by surgeons to stop the bleeding from small blood vessels during surgery ….
Hawking finds advance Lou Gehrig’s Disease research in Israel ……
Teva this month began recruiting patients with rheumatoid arthritis for a clinical trial comparing its biosimilar …..
Teva focusing on monoclonal antibodies, and aim to gain regulatory approval for their first product by the end of 2014…..
Teva Biosimilars began clinical trials on their first product in the first half of this year…..
Biosimilars will be “an important future growth engine used to boost infection-fighting white blood cells in chemotherapy patients, in Europe and sought U.S. approval in December…..
Approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia as well as rheumatoid arthritis, Rituxan generated ($5.24 billion) in sales last year,Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the immune system attacks the joints, causing swelling, pain and damage that can lead to deformity and disability.
gbk, It’s been proven those w/ a sense of humor lead a much more happy and longer life. Life is serendipitous, often not serious, and can end in a second. If you can’t laugh, hopefully you @ least sing or dance; they also help prolong life. However, maybe that’s not of interest to you.
pete, LOL! Great observation for a dog. Of course you know your owner is the one that buys them. Maybe some eat them? I never have.
I find it interesting that many of you pro or con Israel equate the Palestinian situation with Arabs or Islam in general. There are over 1 million ISRAELI Arabs and they get along fine with their Israeli counterparts. To say that Israel hates Arabs is ridiculous. Now to disagree with their Palestinian policies is something else, though I find that somewhat ridiculous as well. Hamas hates Israel and Abu Mazen, AKA Mahmoud Abbas is viewed by the majority of Palestinians as corrupt, making him a poor choice in any sort of peace process. Also how do you make peace with people who have sworn to kill your citizens and lob missiles in the early morning hours to kill children going to schoool? I am Jewish and support Israel but I do not hate Arabs or Muslims and indeed have friends who are Muslim, Iraninan, Palestinian etc. and they are pretty awesome.
Nick,
To expound on my previous post — I’m amazed you can get from Stephen Hawking to rimming in only four words. Must be a talent only you have. Good luck with that.
Hmmm. If we could just get all those dog critics into one room and then all of us dogs fart at once. They are trying to stir us up. Or perhaps tell us to go away with our tails between our legs so that they can just talk humanoid to each other and not be guided in the least by lowly dogs. Yeah, until they go blind. I am going off- blog for a few weeks, or at least this blog.
and nick, as far as the butt licking thing goes, be honest. if you could bend like that are you sayin you never would have tried.
nick
i’ve never understood why they make dog treats look like little steaks and fake bacon. my dog thinks treats come from the cat litter box.
Nick,
“And lick your butts.” (Whole post quote)
What an argument! The depths amaze me.
And lick your butts.
pete, There was one rule in the Spinelli household when I grew up. You could not say something was nasty, or that you didn’t like it, until you tried it. Then, you could critique it. You dogs eat your own shit!
i thought that was a good one too, Blouise
i had to look up what tripe really was. that’s just nasty.
Boycott the cretinous Israeli bigots.
I am sorry HumpinDog but the Cubs beat those Cardinals to the punch in forming their own Nation State out of a tribe. Wrigelyville is where its at bro–inside, but not part of, some place pronounced Chi Ca GO.
The nature of the beast has its parallels in America. Like the Arabs, folks who lived in Saint Louis were like the rest of North America. Then they got this Cardinal Nation thing going and it spiraled. Now there are a large number of people who are no longer Americans, or Missourians but style themselves Cardinals and aspire to a Nation State bounded by the outer reaches of Saint Louis County. They are encroaching on the West Bank of the Meramec River and this is where the fighting will break out if they are not granted Nation State status and be allowed to secede. So these Cardinals are like the Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians and want a Nation State that would be about the size of the City of Saint Louis and Saint Louis County with a strip of Saint Charles County (the Gezza Strip). If you makie any blasphemous statement about some red colored bird which is prone to stiing on a bat, then you are condemned to Hell in that town. More later.
There was a spam fillter on the West Bank put out by WordPress and it worked for a while but then the Hamas and Hezbolah (sp) types slipped past the filter by calling themselves Palestinians and the rest is history. Israel is going to have to agree to a new border with Jordon on the West side of the Jordan River and let Jordan rule that area and be responsible if any more Arabs turn terrorist in the guise of being Palestinian, WordPress and the Gawking guy in the wheelchair notwithstanding.
“I’m not sure why the spam filter caught them in the first place unless maybe it doesn’t like tripe any more than it likes spam.” (Gene)
Bravo!
I could care less about any of the middle east. Let israel fight for themselves. We need to stop getting involved