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YOUSEF ALHELOU, TRNN CORRESPONDENT, GAZA: The world-renowned British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has joined the Academic boycott of Israel by refusing to attend a conference hosted by the Israeli president Shimon Perez, in protest at Tel Aviv’s treatment of Palestinians. Hawking’s move follows a boycott of Israel by the Teachers’ Union of Ireland and by the American members of the Association for Asian American Studies.
BDS activists consider Hawking’s decision a huge victory in the campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions targeting Israeli academic institutions.
In the past few years, dozens of artists, musicians and cultural figures have refused to perform or canceled scheduled performances in Israel, in response to calls by the global movement for the campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which was launched in 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics, cultural figures and intellectuals say that boycotting Israeli academic and cultural institutions is an urgently needed form of pressure against Israel that can bring about its compliance with international law and the requirements for a just peace.
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