Not to let the Jews Return if they needed sanctuary from Genocide to all the Lands of Islam from Turkey to Afghanistan was a Dastardly Crime of Islam a crime Islam will Regret more and more as time goes on .

Truly you have to come and reside as a Palestinian for couple of weeks in the west bank to touch the reality, you will discover the facts that you want to jump over and claim that all is ok.

The BDSS'rs are nothing more than hypocritical, one sided, biased, uninformed, hateful, lying, inciting undemocratic, anti free speech Jew hating little dictators. Their 'famous followers are nothing more than hypocritical, egocentric, uninformed, biased, undemocratic, anti free speech and (maybe) Jew hating (but willing) victims. They both don't understand that WW2 started with people like them. I hope that's not what their intention is. Not one Palestinian is getting a better life because of them.

Hawking has visited Israel four times. How many times does he have to visit before he is qualified to take a view of Israel's human rights record

Israel is not perfect but it is an easy and convenient target. Do these moral crusaders boycott the undemocratic China that tramples on the rights of its own citizens? Do they boycott Russia that committed deeds in Chechnya that makes Israel in the West Bank look like a childcare centre? The list is endless. What intelligent people need to ask themselves is what is the purpose of the campaign they are aligning themselves with. At it's core, the goal is to destroy Israel's legitimacy. And the end goal of that - without any doubt - is the destruction of the State of Israel. As a result, intelligent people should boycott the boycott and express any sympathy with the Palestinian cause in a more fair-minded way.

Considering Prof. Hawking's limited mobility, he would have so spend a minimum of several weeks with a special vehicle capable of handling a wheelchair and a guide. Does that answer your question?

The boycotters hate Jews and hate the Jewish state of Israel. They couldn't care less about the facts or Jewish contribution to the world. They just don't want us in Israel or anywhere else for that matter. As a child in London the antisemites would chant at me and my friends Jews go back to Palestine! my children now have Jews get out of Palestine! shouted at them kinda ironic but explains that these people do not want Jews anywhere at all! They just hate us sad but true

please try to be professional and double chack the fact you expose in the article if you wish to be called a serious website.

My heart pumps custard for these haters.......maybe thats why there so called freedom fighters in Syria want to cut it out and eat it. Let the leftists live with that in their bosom....and be warmed by the humanitarian side of things going on in "the palestine area". What about using nuclear weapons "if they had access to it"....of course they would !!??

recognied borders they would do alot to eliminate the hate. The world empathies with the Palestinians who's land you've stole and the crimes you've committed against them. Change your behavour and the world will love you again, if you don't they won't. But don't try to spin it, people aren't stupid. As yet, you get what you deserve, and I think what you want.

I want to explain to you exactly why singling out Israel for boycotting is Anti-Semitism. It is because there are so many countries that have human rights violations at a scale that make Israel look like a paradise. Please read poster #5-he is completely correct (and has a great first name I might add.) As another prime example, note that Saudi Arabia horribly denies the rights of women, and that country has no concept of freedom of religion whatsever. Do you see anybody boycotting Saudi Arabia? Therefore, the issue that makes Israel boycotting fall under the category of Anti-Semitism is that these boycotters boycott Israel alone, when Israel's human rights record is so much better than many, many other countries. Anybody who continues to justify boycotting Israel without directly addressing this issue is being immoral to the core.

perhaps the reasons for all the confusion is that, there is NO palestine? Yes, hatred of Jews is endemic and will always be so. That we can't change and neither should we change the ownership of and the naming and retaining of Judea, Samaria and, of course, ALL of Jerusalem. This is the crux of the matter, no palestine, no foreign dictates over ISrael. Israel is responsible for, at a minimum, her own G-d given land, the holy land, every inch of it and she alone is in full charge of this land.

But who's to blame ? I heard the ex palestinian delegate to the EU telling that in 2012 there were NO Israelis hurt by a guy coming from Judea Samaria . He was most likely right , but forgot to tell that it was thanks to the security wall he hates . Why do we have to install check points , if not to prevent attacks ? Your situation is your own fault

Hawking supports peoples who commit terrible atrocities (suicide bombings) against innocent women, children, elderly.

In the end it just goes to prove that even one as esteemed and intelligent as Prof.Hawking can still amount to little more than a "Useful Idiot" as termed to USA backers of former USSR communism. A phrase coined by the USSR Politburo themselves. So Prof. Hawking you now have a new title to add to your 'illustrious' name and I for one will categorize you as such - Prof. S Hawking Physicist and Useful Idiot.

Israel boycotters are racists who seek excuses for their racism. So it's hardly surprising that they believe and create as many lies against Israel as they can.

perhaps the reasons for all the confusion is that, there is NO palestine? Yes, hatred of Jews is endemic and will always be so. That we can't change and neither should we change the ownership of and the naming and retaining of Judea, Samaria and, of course, ALL of Jerusalem. This is the crux of the matter, no palestine, no foreign dictates over ISrael. Israel is responsible for, at a minimum, her own G-d given land, the holy land, every inch of it and she alone is in full charge of this land.

Sorry, but according to published reports, Hawking HAS visited. Four times. I don't agree with him boycotting. I don't agree with anyone boycotting Israel. But this looks bad. Really really bad, when the smartest guy in the known universe won't come to your conferences, and has the integrity to refuse on moral grounds. And stop with the "He uses our technology" crap. Find a better argument. You really think he should give up the tech that lets him get around so his moral stance can be 100 pure?

Poor Guy, while you enjoy the sun in havana, you dont know that all the achievements done are on the back of Paletinians! I respect Israels Achievements but on the other hand do you know that checkpoints are cripeling economic improvement for Palestinians, dont you know that this caused 42% unemployment amoung the youth, dont you know that almost 50% of people live on food stamps, dont you know that Palestinian workers que on bethlehem checkpoint at 4 in the morning to go out of the checkpoint 1t 8 am, dont you know that 45% of the population live on 12% of the land, dont you know that palestinians cant build in area C dont you know that Israel forbids palestinians in west bank from maryying palestinians from jerusalem! dont you know that Palestinians from Gaza can not marry palestinians from either west bank or jerusalem, dont you know that if a Palestinian from jerusalem leaves the country for three years looses his ID and a list that never ends.... where were you?!

israeli aproach, we are innocent they are guilty which is no diffrent than palestinians aproach :) why? cause we contribute to world but they dont, why?cause we think we are right, and we know better than anyone else what makes you think that they dont have their own opinions and this is work of haters? maybe mr hawking had his own opinion maybe he has seen that while israelis talks about peace they dont show much effort to do it, maybe he just thought actions speaks louder than words so he took his action which surely made huge impact , maybe and just maybe he was just tired of all of this occupation and who knows maybe they are right mr author especially now world smartest man joined to their side who knows :)

There are those who admire achievers and those who envy them. Those who envy them are the Israel haters.

The day boycotters begin to boycott China,Syria,North Korea,Saudi Arabia,Hammas,Hizbolah,Sudan,Iran,Turkey and many others for lack of womens rights or freedom of religion or denying self determination ( Tibet,kurds ) than and only after that I will consider the boycotters actually care about the palestinians.

In 1922, only 11% of population of Palestine were Jewish. Even so, occupiers decided that Palestine should be a "national homeland" for Jews. Why? Who gave them right to make such decision?

My letter to the Guardian which will not be published: Editor, The international, global sport, is BDS of Israeli goods, intellectuals, artists and scientists. It is also a campaign to boycott companies such as Caterpillar as if Israel cannot buy Chinese made bulldozers. Worse, the media, specifically European, ignores "good", phenomenal organizations, which try to build coexistence with Israeli neighbors. Under the banner "Mending Hearts....Building Bridges" the Israeli organization Save a Child's Heart operated on more than 2000 Palestinian kids with congenital heart diseases and many kids from neighboring countries. Stressing the positive in relations between the Israeli and the Palestinians is more important than collective punishment of Israel and her society. BDS is inciting Palestinians and radicals to believe that they can destroy Israel through Boycotts, Sanction and Divestments. This realistically will not resolve the conflict in the Holy Land. Stressing the positive in Israeli Palestinian relation, there are many bridges built, was never tried.

Whilst I agree with you position in general that celebrities and famous potential scientists like Hawkins are being targeted by boycotted, I do not agree with the way you have characterised this situation. I even think you are totally over dramatising it and risking making a "good argument" just sound like whining. First, the BDS movement is definitely not a "new trend" at all. And secondly, if anything, the situation tht you cry about as if no-one is coming to visit Israel at all, has improved massively over the past 10 years. Tourism levels to Israel are setting new records, lots of famous artists play here regularly, there's a whole line up of famous names coming to play Israel this summer. Those that do choose to listen to boycotters (not Dep Mode or Alicia Keys to name but two) are swiftly becoming the exception, not the rule. And we as Israelis need to show a calmer and less bothered attitude to those that do. We are certainly not "quiet" or "watching silently" (ever hear of Steve Schnerr? Google him!). Meanwhile no need to play the panicking victim card, Israel is doing just fine.

I mean you could have said anything about him but stupid? try another one. my guess is the guy has already looked at the facts and saw what the 'other side' had to say and he came to this conclusion. get over it, move on.

Did Noam Chomsky push Stephen Hawking to boycott Israeli conference?

this does not give him a great insight on politics . His "mentor" is this great linguist , Noam Chomsky , a Israel hater . Their brains are full of physics for Hawking , and linguistics for the second . This does not leave any place for a sane unbiaised judgement on the situation here

but sympathize with the decent ordinary people of Palestine. Boycotting the State of Israel, means to endorse the brutal callous Hamas, Fatah terror leaders. These leaders and their early relatives ruined the Middle East. Support humanity and peaceful coexistence.

Until the Palestinians and their supporters recognise that their problems are self-inflicted, they will remain nowhere. As an Australian Jew, I know that Israelis can be a massive pain in the arse - they are rude, arrogant, aggressive etc. However, a Palestinian people that genuinely recognised the Jews' right to a national homeland, that genuinely was prepared to quit the hatred and incitement and terrorism, would have made peace with Israel decades ago. Did my late grandfather spend the rest of his life trying to extract revenge on the Germans. No. He got on with building a meaningful life. That's why when I hear and see the Palestinians complaining, I marvel at the stupidity of a people that can't move forward because of their own ineptitude.