Stephen Hawking Left Foot Forward, a left-wing British political blog, asks this excellent question today about Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott the State of Israel. Indeed, Hawking reportedly traveled to both China and Iran over the last few years. His decision to boycott Israel was reported yesterday, then retracted, then confirmed by the end of the day. Hawking now faces a mix of censure and celebration throughout the blogosphere. Certainly there are legitimate questions to be raised about his differing positions on Israel, China and Iran. In fairness to Hawking, there are also larger questions to be asked about the international pressure he faced over his trip to Israel as compared to his less controversial visits to those other countries. Meanwhile, some of Israel’s advocates argue that greater media attention should be paid to stories which place Israel in a more favorable light, such as articles about Israel’s burgeoning trade relations with some countries, its technological contributions, or its promising natural gas discoveries.