Hawking may be a scietific genius but he is an immoral idiot. he lacks the moral clarity and courage to say no to those who want Israel boycotted, isolated, weakened and, they hope, destroyed. 200-300 missiles are fired every year from Gaza into Israeli cities, towns and villages, The PA says it will never recognize Israel as the Jewish state and says Jews 'have no historic presence in'Palestine'. Ye,t Hawking does not even consider boycotting the Palestinians. What a fool. The Nazis also had their scientists, some concerned more with exterminating Jews than with saving lives and ,making the world a better place. When Hawking is a small footnote, Israel will still be a woderful example of what a good and courageous people can achieve.

distinguish between Arab death cult called "Islam" and the history of the Jewish People- it does not take a genius, believe me

This article is written in a very intelligent and persuasive way. Prof. Hawking has in boycotting Israel violated the principle of academic freedom. He has also discriminated against one particular people and nation. He has also shown an ignorance of the Middle East conflict. He has shown himself to be a political fool.

Of course, in theoretical physics, imaginary numbers are kind of useless, are they not? May as well believe in unicorns, right? I did not go either into either the field of mathematics or that of theoretical physics, but once upon a time, I did go to a school called the Bronx High School of Science, and I did graduate near the top of my class and I did get credit for AP Math. I do seem to recall that the square root of a negative number does indeed not exist. In view of the fact that so much of his theorizing assumes that it does, shall we give Professor Hawking a call? It would appear he's taken a left turn toward nowhere.

I think we Jews invented the boycott, we do it to each other and others all the time. Kashrut is just another way of boycotting other people's food. After the Marmara we boycotted Turkey....but when it happens to us we are suddenly all indignent, it's immoral! In general I agree with the writer, boycotts are generally counter-productive and nowhere near as effective as dialogue and friendship. But we need to practice what we preach not just demand it of others.

Intel CPU chips are mostly designed in the USA and are mostly manufactured in China (why make chips in Israel and ship them to China when most of the world CPU based devices are made in China?) All the chest thumping by Israelis about technology is just a bunch of BS. The hard reality is virtually all of the world's technology has NOT come from Israel. I know that hurts your little egos, but that is the reality and telling lies about reality just makes you look stupid.

Every now and then I reflect on an article, news or a comment in Ynet. I am always surprised to read (almost) the same commentators writing (almost) the same thing independently of what the subject is, as if you want to convince yourselves. Can any of those habitual commentators tell me how to get out from this centurial conflict in a peaceful way? I think that boycott is one good, peaceful method. When I asked the author, in my comment, if he prefers war, I wanted to emphasize that I want to avoid war. Every commentator after that understood the contrary, and started reflecting his (Israeli) muscles. Yes, Israel won almost all wars, but that won’t last forever, we live in a rapidly changing world. And again this detestable religious aspect, which appears every time we write about Israel/Palestine. No one holds the truth: not the Jews, not the Muslims, not the Christians. In fact, there is no absolute truth. Every one has his own truth. I am non-religious and believe that the conflict is national, political which can be solved only in political ways. Remember, there is only 3 possibilities: complete Eretz Israel, the whole of Palestine or a compromise. I tend to believe in compromise.

He's not boycotting it. He said he isn't going because he knows he would be unable to keep himself from giving his controversial political views in his speach, so decided it was best to not go. The Palestinians asked for a boycott. If the definition a boycott has changed to mean not attending an event, then I as well am boycotting the event.

You must have forgotwn it, it's on the test. I taught high school math even in New York city during the early and mid 90's before I went into engineering.

and Google it. If you bother to read it, you will see that the square root of negative numbers does exist in complex numbers. They are very practical. You couldn't be leaving comments on the internet if they did not exist because electrical engineering and signal transmissions depend on them so much. They are important in theoretical physics. Hawking probably made a mistake applying them. Your idol Einstein had to have a mathematician help him when he got stuck. He mentioned the person. I'm sure you did graduate top of your class, probably in English literature, art, history, or something like that. So stick to your field and stay away from physics. You'd probably burn down or blow up the lab with your great comprehension of science.

Chuckle. I guess you prove the saying, then ... "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." A high school math teacher. Wow, aren't I impressed!

boycote the ignorants .it is god rule .so you say it about hawking but realy he said it about israil >the confusion is about ignorance it is not in science or morality or religouse it is in general about the rights and what it is right and what it is wrong ..i think hell is mainly to whome know the right and do the wrong i hope that hawkings would not be the one e ven he does not believe on god nor on hell

Yeah, somehow -- mirabile dictu -- I found my way to the Ivy Leagues -- college, graduate school and law degree. You are quite correct -- none of my degrees is in science. Then again, I do remember enough to know that negative numbers cannot be squared. Imaginary numbers -- well, why not take that up with your hero, the purple dinosaur. I do believe his name is Barney. I'm sure he can help you understand the role of real mathematics. Perhaps he can help you with your spelling and usage issues, too. Just ask.

...between a genius (which Hawking is definitely not) and a savant. A genius in one minute aspect of knowledge, an ignorant idiot in everything else.

Susan in 1938 there was no Jewish "army of occupation" To find suspected terrorists (or even youths who threw stones) the army is sent in the middle of the night to search Palestinian homes. Imagine yourself as a child in occupied France with SS troops banging on the door to search your apartment. It must have been terrifying. This has been going on for more than 45 years. The boycott has nothing to do with my political beliefs or yours. Try to realise how good normal people around the world react to this kind of situation. South Africa was boycotted for 25 years until the fall of the White Regime. It could very well happen here.

A perfect example of a double standard is your own; comparing Israel, where Arabs in Israel vote, are represented in government, go to the same hospitals as Jews to be treated by the same Jewish and arab doctors and nurses, etc., with the Nazis. Your ignorance (shall we also say stupidity?) shines through.

#95; Kashrut has nothing to do with boycotts. And the "boycott" of Turkey is nothing like the arab boycott of Israel or BDS. #104; Hawking is a genius in astrophysics. He is not a genius in everything. To all; Maybe we should learn the difference.

Equating Arab Muslim "truth" (propaganda) to Israel truth. Equating Arab attacks on civilian Jews to Israel defending herself from attacks on her civilians. The list goes on. The conflict will continue for as long as truth is relativized to a meaningless opinion because neither side is "morally" willing to abandon these intractably contradictory "relative truths" -- and the resulting "relative justices." Neither side will give up truth and justice. That necessarily means that the only possible solution is to establish the same, absolute, truth. So your relativizing "truth" is a primary reason the conflict can have no end. Unless your "truth" is that you are inerrant, your belief that the conflict is "national, political" does not make it so. That makes you premise flawed and your conclusion ex falso quodlibet. If you're really convinced that "In fact, there is no absolute truth" as you assert, then gravity has no rule over you. Jump off a high building with no safety precautions and before trying to lecture me about how "no one holds the truth."

I really was glad to read what you had to say to and about Prof. Hawking. The reality of the professor is that his view of Israel goes far beyond just boycotting, snubbing, Israel. It goes to the core of him. I think he's a bitter man with basic views of intolerance toward anyone who doesn't look at the world as he does. He has a lot of theories about the universe without any idea where all of his "theories" began. There is no G_d in his universe so there is no idea where or how or who started everything. Our scientist keep trying to trace the universe back to where it first began without being able to explain where the beginnings began, or where the beginnings came from. They(scientist) can never answer the most basic question of how the universe began, and if they think they know they can't tell you where it all came from. Prof. Hawking can't tell you why he is in a wheel chair in his condition, but he's going to tell the world about the universe? And he has no tolerance for any other view out there. It isn't cruelty to say this about the man. It's just a fact. I'm not at all surprised that Prof. Hawking would take such a stand against Israel. He is just being who he is. I pity the man, which isn't to say I like or admire him.

And on the other hand, sometimes even weird mathematical calculations like the "Cauchy principal value" turn out to be of use in physics.

If Mr Gavrieli were to reread "A Brief History of Time" as an adult,as I did he might realize two things; 1)Hawking wasn't writing anything original and much of it isn't even scientific. 2)It was a money-maker aimed at a popular market. Or to put it another way,"A Brief History of Time" is populist crap from Hawking,and nothing seems to have changed. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

A great scientific mind does not make one a great person in other fields. Nor does it make one a great human being. Nor does it give great understanding in interpersonal matters. My comments are not directed at a specific individual, but just something that needs to be considered. After all wasn't the Wagner a great racist and an anti semite.

I too will shun someone like this so-called educated man, Hawking for his decision to join the cheap BDS propaganda campaign against a people; the Jews albeit, the State of Israel.

There wouldnt be an "occupation" if the Arabs hadnt threatened Israel in 1967. There would be a Pal state right now if it hadnt been for Arafat's terror war. Imagine my fear as a mother 10-12 years ago every time my kids went out to school. Imagine how I felt every time I had to go to the supermarket. I didnt go to malls, movies, weddings or restaurants for a long time. for fear of being blown up. My bother in law's niece was blown up in the Moment Cafe in Jerusalem, my former neighbor was murdered in a drive by shooting, my kids school mates were murdered in a pizza shop bombing. The Pals abused all the trust we had in them. Its not about a Pal state, its about Islamofacism.

Wow! you are so arrogant, Stewart, just like Prof. Hawking. Too bad, too.

Against Israel is = Ignorant, typically have the anti-semite gene, and so called intellectual dumbness

He is basing his stance on irrational political pressure rather than a concise evaluation of the facts. For someone who purports to be a scientist, he has done no evaluation of the facts. Maybe if the BDS movement would pressure him he would also declare that the earth is flat. He has lost respect in the entire scientific community. His books are now only worthy of being used as recycled paper.

robbers have become the advocates and murderers the judges- The riches needed to finance the toys with which modern physicists prove their theories are the outcome of centuries of outright colonization and plundering ...In the Americas populations were virtually wiped out as Europeams with their endless greed wanted more and more land... yet in both examples at least some good has come out of the bad. perhaps here in "Palestine" some good is also hidden within the bad. Do you think the local population would have been better off today had they still been part of Syria they were before the mandate? Of course in that case there would have been no Israel to bash and boycott and perhaps the Jews would have joined the Native Americans as voiceless ghosts from the past.. To understand history one needs much more perspective than have the pro and con groups of today. Just as a note - parts of my family have been here since the early 18oo's - longer than many Moslem families. My family came from Iraq, not from Europe. they spoke Atabic at home.

and still be an anti-Semite? Is it possible? TATA

Well, Wagner wasn't all that great a musician. In point of fact, he would have descended into quiet oblivion were it not for the Nazis, who enthusiastically embraced his crappy "music." Sometimes I wonder if that isn't precisely the reason why Roger Waters has thrust himself into the limelight. He's afraid of descending into oblivion. As well he should be.