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Suspect in attacks on three Jewish women in Brooklyn faces federal hate crimes charges

Tiffany Harris allegedly targeted the Jewish women on Dec. 27 in Crown Heights while shouting, “F— you, Jews!”

By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algemeiner

A Brooklyn woman suspected of physically and verbally assaulting three Jewish women last month and was released twice without bail, after which she attacked another woman, is now facing federal hate crimes charges.

Tiffany Harris allegedly targeted the Jewish women on Dec. 27 in Crown Heights while shouting, “F— you, Jews!” It was later revealed that Harris had been released without bail before the incident, in accordance with new regulations imposed by New York City Mayor Bill di Blasio’s office.

The New York Post reported that US Attorney General William Barr unsealed the federal warrant for Harris’ arrest when he met with Jewish leaders in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

“We will move aggressively if we see this kind of activity,” Barr pledged.

Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue, who was also in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, said the indictment was “a good example of having a very low tolerance for this kind of activity.”

The FBI wrote in an affidavit filed in support of the warrant that Harris had confessed that she “believed the three women were Jewish because the neighborhood was known as a ‘Jewish neighborhood’ and because of the manner in which the women were dressed.”

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At the time of her first arrest, Harris boasted of her crime, saying, “Yes, I slapped them. I cursed them out. I said, ‘F-U, Jews.’”

One of Harris’ victims, Dalia Shusterman, told The Algemeiner just after the attack that Harris’ release without bail was “a malignant growth out of [the authorities’] unwillingness to sympathize with the Orthodox Jewish community, which has always been relegated as the other, stereotyped as oppressors, and treated as unworthy of societal protection.”

“There are too many voices encouraging this very specific hatred and not enough efforts to call it out as the evil that it is,” she asserted.

“As far as how I feel about being visibly Jewish, just like the song says, this land was made for you and me,” Shusterman added. “I teach my children to be proud of who they are, and I believe that ought to be a universal game plan. Our days of going into hiding are over.”