The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has scored two major victories this month, starting with a groundbreaking report issued by the Church of Scotland. This was followed by an equally courageous decision by the internationally renowned cosmologist and physicist, Stephen Hawking, to boycott an Israeli conference. These two important developments have riled Israel and galvanised its friends and allies, to no avail.
On May 3, the Church and Society Council, which advocates on behalf of the Church of Scotland at national and international levels, issued a 5,000-word report titled: “The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’”. The report challenged what was until recently considered conventional wisdom, according to which, various mainstream churches around the world viewed Israel and justified its ‘right to exist’ based on biblical promises and theological manipulation by crafty politicians. Not any more. “The ‘promised land’ in the Bible is not a place,” the report stated, “so much as a metaphor of how things ought to be among the people of God. This ‘promised land’ can be found — or built — anywhere.”
According to its wordings, the report was clearly issued based on political urgency summoned by the continued injustice which Palestinians are subjected to by Israel. Few major institutions in mainstream Christianity had ever spoken with such clarity as the council’s report has.
“The desire of many in the state of Israel to acquire the land of Palestine for the Jewish people is wrong. The fact that the land is currently being taken by settlement [colony] expansion, the separation barrier, house clearance, theft and force make it doubly wrong to seek biblical sanction for this.”
While some mainstream churches remain silent, the Church of Scotland tackled the issue with unprecedented audacity as it sought “to respond to the question: ‘What does the Lord require of you ...?’”
Hawking is not a religious man. The English physicist is a principled scholar with an honourable track record. In an event “of cosmic proportions”, as described by one Palestinian academic, Hawking boycotted an Israeli academic conference slated for next month. It was also a decisive moral call, communicated by Cambridge University on May 8, where Hawking is a professor.
Hawking’s scientific work had the kind of impact that redefined or challenged entire areas of research from the theory of relativity, to quantum mechanics and other fields of study. This towering figure is also wheelchair-bound — suffering from complete physical paralyses caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease. For Hawking, however, such a painful fact seems like a mere side note in the face of his incredible contributions to science, ones that are comparable to only a few men and women throughout history.
What is considered a prestigious scientific conference in Israel is to be hosted by President Shimon Peres, most remembered by Lebanese and Palestinians for ordering the shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in South Lebanon in 1996. The compound was a safe haven, where civilians often sought shelter during Israeli strikes. Hundred and six innocent people, mostly children and women, were killed and 116 wounded, including members of UN forces. That harrowing event alone would have sent Peres, then Israel’s prime minister, to serve his remaining years in jail.
Hawking’s response to the boycott call was immensely important. His legendary status aside, the BDS movement has proved more durable and successful than its detractors — mostly Israel’s apologists — want to believe. Hawking’s decision was also a testament that reason and morality should and must go hand in hand. Israel’s boasting of its scientific accomplishments should mean zilch if such technology is put to work to advance state violence, tighten military occupation and make killer drones available to other countries, thus exporting violence and mayhem. That very ‘science’ was used in abundance in Israel’s last two wars on Gaza (2008-09 and 2012), which claimed thousands of lives between the dead and wounded.
Cambridge University, perhaps wary of a possible backlash, tried to mask Hawking’s decision as one that was compelled by health reasons, which, of course, was not the case. The university eventually retracted the statement, for the British scientist wished to make his decision crystal clear. He said: “I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement, but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank. However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”
Unlike other acts of boycott, sometimes dismissed by Israeli officials as insignificant, this one was manifestly shocking for Israel. Yigal Palmor, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, was quoted by the New York Times as saying “never has a scientist of this stature boycotted Israel”.
And since it was unexpected, Hawking’s respect for the boycott generated pro-Israeli responses, ranging from demeaning jokes and insults pertaining to his illness, unwarranted accusations and even shaming him for using technology supposedly developed in Israel to combat his deteriorating ALS condition. “Indeed,” wrote Rabbi Abraham Cooper of Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles on the Fox News website, “some of the technologies that have served as Hawking’s lifeline to the world were developed by INTEL, a company with deep roots in Israel.”
Never before has Israel lost control over its carefully tailored narrative of its military occupation and violations of human rights in Palestine as is the case these days.
Although the dialectics that led to the decisions by Hawking and the Church of Scotland were based on two different sets of moral references, two facts clearly highlighted: First, the BDS movement is progressively joined by powerful and influential friends, faster than initially expected. Second, Israel is increasingly on the defensive as the official version of its occupation of Palestine is falling apart before probing and impatient civil society the world over.
As for those who still spare time and efforts, and further jeopardise their own credibility to defend Israel in the face of growing international condemnation, it behoves them to advocate a just peace in Palestine and Israel than to defend Israel’s war crimes and military occupation.
Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is: My Father Was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press).
