Hawking had originally accepted Peres' invitation and was scheduled to headline the event which will also serve as the Israeli official's birthday celebration.
"Hawking is the most public figure yet to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli regime which began publicly in 2005 as a broad-based rights coalition to protect the interests of Palestinian citizens, including refugees, those under occupation, and those living in the occupied lands of Palestine."
While journalists named [Hawking] 'the poster boy of the academic boycott',...Israeli press outlets drew attention to the inflammatory language used by the conference organizers, who described themselves as 'outraged' rather than that they 'regretted' Hawking's decision.
Hawking is the most public figure yet to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli regime which began publicly in 2005 as a broad-based rights coalition to protect the interests of Palestinian citizens, including refugees, those under occupation, and those living in the occupied lands of Palestine.
Prior to the BDS, an academic boycott of the Tel Aviv regime started in England back in 2002, and Hawking now joins their ranks as well.
Hawking's decision to boycott the Israeli president's conference has gone viral. Over 100,000 Facebook members have so far shared a Guardian report on his refusal to participate at the event.
Whatever the subsequent fuss, Hawking's letter is unequivocal. His refusal to attend came following pleas by native Palestinian academicians.
Witness the speed with which the pro-Israel lobby seized on Cambridge University's initial false claim that he had withdrawn on health grounds to denounce the boycott movement, and their embarrassment when within a few hours the university shamefacedly corrected itself.
Hawking also made it clear that if he had gone he would have used the occasion to criticize Israeli policies against the Palestinians.
NTJ/MB