This post is first in a series that will explore what it is like to be a Zionist in an antizionist small town in upstate New York.

Welcome to Ithaca, NY, the town that CNN ranked as number one among America’s “Best Towns to Visit in 2025.” CNN touted the place’s natural beauty, heathy environment, vibrant arts scene, and ready access to lakes, waterfalls, and parks. The weekend Farmers Market at the base of Cayuga Lake teems with tourists and residents who buy organic produce and prepared foods. Ithaca is home to Cornell University, one of the eight universities that constitute the Ivy League, and Ithaca College. It is home as well to an educated citizenry, and what used to be called the counterculture. From Ithaca it is a short drive to the outstanding wineries of the Finger Lakes. It has always been a great place to live, but since October 7, 2023, it has turned an undercurrent of antizionism into an environment openly hostile to Israel and to Jews.

This town of roughly 32,000 permanent residents prides itself on its hospitality to like-minded folks, though there’s the rub. Ithaca is a “sanctuary city,” a stance that shields those who entered this country illegally from deportation. Signs on front lawns throughout the city signal their residents’ virtue: “Ithaca welcomes immigrant families” and “Black Lives Matter.”  Rainbow flags welcome the LGBTQ . “Ithaca is Gorges” appears on souvenir t-shirts and bumper stickers. If you attend a lecture at Cornell, you first sit through a rote recitation of a “land use acknowledgement” that recognizes that “Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation).” Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo declared in a recent interview that he “sees everything through a DEI lens.” A lens with an aperture that isn’t wide enough to include Jews.

Ithaca is Diverse! Ithaca loves you! Ithaca celebrates you! That is, unless you are . . . a Zionist.

In the aftermath of 10/7/2023 Cornell history professor Russell Rickford exclaimed to a cheering crowd that he was “exhilarated” by the Hamas attack on Israelis. Zealots tore down hostage posters as soon as........

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