The Hawking Hoax: May 9, 2013, 1:52 am
Stephen Hawking Accused Of Being A Hypocrite For Boycotting Israel Conference read.bi/10rpOHH— Business Insider (@businessinsider) May 8, 2013
Ghe. "if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet" #Hawking businessinsider.com/stephen-hawkin…— René van Leeuwen (@RHvL88) May 8, 2013
University: Hawking Israel Boycott Story is a Fraud, Trip Canceled for Health Reasons algemeiner.com/?p=111085— ya'akov (@metzada3833) May 8, 2013
Hmm "Prof. Hawking trip NOT cancelled due to Israel boycott" thecommentator.com/article/3476/p… #BDS #Hawking— Raquel E Saraswati (@RaquelEvita) May 8, 2013
Earth to @harrietsherwood, @matthewkalman - Hawking NOT boycotting Israel. Statement here: bit.ly/12dlOsP— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemJKassam) May 8, 2013
Update
The decision by Hawking to cancel the event in Israel, which is sponsored by Simon Peres, was initially blamed on health reasons by Cambridge University.
But in his letter to Peres and event organizers, Hawking made clear he was boycotting over what he considers Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
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.
It has once again been proven that intelligence should not be confused with wisdom. Nor is it a guarantee for moral courage.