PHILADELPHIA — Natalie Shclover displayed courage and integrity when she confronted Israel-bashing at the University of Connecticut a month ago, yet she made an error in judgment that boomeranged on her and offset a more productive outcome.
In an “open letter” posted by The Times of Israel, Shclover recalled spotting posters protesting UConn’s economic relationship with Israel scattered throughout the library in a manner violating school policy for distributing posters. With her boyfriend, she returned later in the day, last Feb. 28, to remove all the illegal posters and was videotaped doing so. That triggered a month of torment for her, especially her inexplicable expulsion from a campus a cappella group.
Shclover was justified to challenge them, but she went about it the wrong way. She took on too much by herself. My feeling is that she should have asked the administration to clear out these posters, and if they refused, she could take it from there.
The campus newspaper did report the perspective of some Muslim students, who were appalled that Shclover and her boyfriend removed the posters and claimed that the couple harassed them.
This writer, in pointing out her mistake, is hardly nitpicking. Jewish response to antisemitic episodes are flimsy enough, and when we respond we need to do so both wisely and forcefully. We must put the Israel-bashers on the defensive and deny them space to turn it against us — which is what happened to Shclover. So far.
Shclover, a senior...
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