It was revealed on Wednesday that Stephen Hawking’s decision to withdraw from the third annual Facing Tomorrow conference was not made on health grounds as previously stated, but was instead part of a wider academic boycott of Israel. The conference is a high profile event in Israel that will honour the birthday of Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, who turns ninety this year.

Hawking wrote of his decision last week in a private letter to Peres. In a statement approved by Hawking, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine described his actions as: "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there.” Hawking’s decision marks the latest success in a growing movement in the academic world to boycott the academic institutions of Israel.

Having previously stated that Hawking’s absence from the event was because of doctors’ advice against air travel, the University of Cambridge said on Wednesday: “We have now received confirmation from Professor Hawking’s office that a letter was sent on Friday to the Israeli president’s office regarding his decision not to attend the Presidential Conference, based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott.” Israel Maimon, the Presidential Conference chairman called Hawking’s actions “outrageous and improper”, and said that: “Israel is a democracy in which all individuals are free to express their opinions, whatever they may be. The imposition of a boycott is incompatible with open, democratic dialogue.”

Michael Freedman, a third year Jewish PPS student at Fitzwilliam College, added that he also did not think the boycott was useful: “Professor Hawking is trying to be more Palestinian than the Palestinians: many Palestinian speakers are attending the conference because they use academia to bridge political gulfs, rather than widen them. This boycott would prefer to destroy constructive dialogue.”

Hawking has not always been hostile to Israel. In his most recent visit in 2006 he was a guest of the British embassy in Tel Aviv. He delivered public lectures at both Israeli and Palestinian universities, and said that he was excited to meet scientists from both nations. However in 2009 Hawking denounced Israel’s response to rocket fire from Gaza as “plain out of proportion” and said that the three-week attack on Gaza was reminiscent of South Africa before 1990.

Despite this, Hawking’s boycott has been derided as hypocritical, as the computer equipment that Hawking uses to function employs Israeli technology. Hawking has suffered from motor neurone disease for the past 50 years, and relies on computer-based technology to communicate. The Israeli team of Intel, a US multinational high-tech company, designed the chip that Hawking has been using to communicate with since 1997. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Israel Law Centre Shurat HaDin, told The Times: “I suggest if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet.”