

Stephen Hawking Joins Boycott Against Israel  - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/world/middleeast/stephen-hawking-joins-boycott-against-israel.html?hp&_r=1&

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pedalpete
The most unfortunate bit comes in the last sentence of the article.

"Also listed among the speakers is Munib al-Masri, a Palestinian tycoon from
the West Bank city of Nablus who has been working to promote internal
Palestinian reconciliation."

Makes me think this line isn't just PR. "The imposition of a boycott is
incompatible with open, democratic dialogue.”"

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meric
Of course it is; How can it be undemocratic to exercise your choice to not
attend a conference, to protest against issues you don't agree with? I would
have thought such freedoms would have been _required_ for democracy.

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tomerv
It might be compatible with democracy, but it's incompatible with democratic
dialog. You can't have a dialog when one side is refusing to talk.

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Svip
That's assuming you don't explain your reasons for refusing to talk. Hawking
and others have made it quite clear _why_ they are boycotting. And by
boycotting, they are giving their dialogue more effect.

If Hawking went down to Israel, told him what he thought about the whole thing
with Palestine and hauled ass out of there; no one would care. 'Great, another
European telling Israel they don't it. NEXT!' But this boycott is actually
making people talk.

