by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer

Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip ended more than a month ago, but for two college campuses in the snow-flushed mountains of central New York, the aftershocks from the war with Hamas continue to reverberate.

In the latest tremors, the most recent edition of the Ithaca College alumni magazine ICView, featured ’08 grad Emily McNeill’s eyewitness account of Israeli settler violence in Palestinian land. It sparked a campus-wide battle among students, faculty and alumni. 

Meanwhile, two miles north at Cornell, the formerly peaceful Muslim and pro-Israel organizations broke what had been an increasingly friendly dialogue with a series of antagonistic rallies and protests.

“Ithaca is a very liberal town — it’s sort of in its own little bubble,” said Shai Akabas, president of the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee. “There are more people who lean to the far left side of the political spectrum, and some of those people tend to take more stances against Israel. That may to some extent spur the far-left student population to take action.”

Last month, a group of Cornell students decked the campus Arts Quad with signs condemning Israel’s war on Gaza and 1,300 black flags to represent the dead from both sides, The Cornell Daily Sun reported. Cornell’s Islamic Alliance for Justice did not organize the Feb. 9 protest, though some members participated in the display, its president, Tara Malik, told The Sun. But by that same afternoon, many of those same signs had been vandalized and stolen. Continue reading…