Stephen Hawking to boycott Israel conference

Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking has decided to pull out of a June conference hosted by Israel's President Shimon Peres, event organisers said on Wednesday. "Hawking joined the academic boycott of Israel and pulled out of the Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow 2013, under the auspices of President Peres," they said in a statement. The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, which supports the academic boycott of Israel and opposes its occupation of Palestinian territories, said Hawking had "declined his invitation." "This is his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there," it said on its website. Conference chairman Israel Maimon slammed Hawking's decision. "The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission," he said in a statement. The June 18-20 conference will host diplomats, politicians and academics, and its speakers include former British prime minister Tony Blair, ex-US president Bill Clinton and American songstress Barbra Streisand.