Noam Chomsky was behind lobby to get Stephen Hawking to boycott Israel conference

[IDemo]

Source: Raw Story

Noam Chomsky was among 20 academics who privately lobbied Professor Stephen Hawking to boycott a major Israeli conference, it has emerged.

Chomsky, a US professor and well-known supporter of the Palestinian cause, joined British academics from the universities of Cambridge, London, Leeds, Southampton, Warwick, Newcastle, York and the Open University to tell Hawking they were “surprised and deeply disappointed” that he had accepted the invitation to speak at next month’s presidential conference in Jerusalem, which will chaired by Shimon Peres and attended by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

Hawking pulled out this week in protest at Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, in the wake of receiving the letter and soundings from Palestinian colleagues. The 71-year-old theoretical physicist’s decision has been warmly welcomed by Palestinian academics, with one describing it as “of cosmic proportions”, but was attacked in Israel.

On Friday the liberal academic David Newman, dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences at Ben Gurion University in Israel, warned that an academic boycott “just destroys one of the very few spaces left where Israelis and Palestinians actually do come together”.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/10/noam-chomsky-was-behind-lobby-to-get-stephen-hawking-to-boycott-israel-conference/

[closeupready]

1. But wait! I thought Chomsky was Jewish?

??

[kathysart_decoration]

4. Don't know if you are serious, but...

I don't know whether you are seriously asking this question, but I will seriously answer that Noam Chomsky is, without question, a Jew. He has always been vocal about his support of the plight of the Palestinians, though he has been clear that both sides of that issue have their faults.

[azurnoir]

7. Yes he is however just about 3 years ago

Noam Chomsky Denied Entry To Israel

An Israeli official says academic and polemicist Noam Chomsky, who is a fierce critic of Israel, has been denied entry to the country.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Chomsky was turned away for "various reasons" but declined to elaborate. Chomsky was trying to cross the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. He was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.

Haddad said her ministry was looking into allowing him to enter only the West Bank.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/noam-chomsky-denied-entry_0_n_578285.html

[Ghost Dog]

11. Noam Chomsky is a clear-eyed and very articulate observer with a moral compass.

And tenure.

[L0oniX]

2. Excellent. "Israelis and Palestinians actually do come together"

Yea ...it's usually in the form of a bull dozer crushing a young female protester or a Palestinian home.

[Enrique]

3. i just heard him question the BDS movement

not because of its opposition to Israel, but as a tactic. It was a video that was posted here at DU, he was doing Q & A, someone asked him about BDS and he said it might be counterproductive.

[DLnyc]

5. But do please note that Mr. Hawking is known for being a moderately intelligent fellow.

And also a fairly independent fellow. I don't really picture him being so much 'lobbied'; more likely willing to engage in intelligent discussion. Just a little nuance, I suppose, but the image of Stephen Hawking being intellectually pressured doesn't really wash for me.

[RebelOne]

8. Moderately intelligent? He is a f**king super genius. n/t

[IveWornAHundredPants]

9. I suspect DLnyc was employing the technique of ironic understatement.

I've seen that used around here once or twice before.

[DLnyc]

12. Yes, sorry, it was meant to be ironic.

I've also seen that. Once or twice. Heh.

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Good for Hawking & good for Chomsky n/t

[goldent]

10. This sounds like he was really pressured into it, which would be very sad if true.