Israel is furious after professor Stephen Hawking refused to show up at an event in a protest over Palestine. Hawking was scheduled to speak at a conference hosted in Jerusalem by Israeli president Shimon Peres, but he changed his mind, according to a statement from its organisers.

Israel Maimon, chairman of the Israeli presidential conference said that the use of an academic boycott against Israel is outrageous and improper, particularly for those to whom the spirit of liberty is the basis of the human and academic mission. However Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center sarcastically said that Hawking should take his boycott further, and stop using Intel products.

She said the boycott of Israel was hypocritical for an individual who prides himself on his own intellectual accomplishment.

“His whole computer based communication system runs on a chip designed by Israel's Intel team. I suggest that if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet," she said.

However it is starting to look like everyone’s response might be a storm in teacup. Hawking appears to have pulled out of the event for health reasons and there might have been a little misinformation going back and forward.