PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Roughly 20 American Jews were murdered through gun violence since March 1, 1994, in shooting sprees linked to Jewish-related situations – at two synagogues, public schools in Florida and Connecticut, a Jewish charity office in Seattle, an on-ramp approach to the Brooklyn Bridge and a kosher grocery in Jersey City.
And in late December, Tiffany Harris, 30, was arrested for slapping three Orthodox Jewish women on the streets of Brooklyn. For a few days there, this suspected serial slapper was allowed to roam around Brooklyn so she could slap again.
I cannot speak for all 6 million Jews in America, but I prefer being slapped on the street than gunned down while worshiping in a synagogue. A slap on the face would upset me, but at least I would be alive so I could feel upset. If my family was sitting shiva over me, how could I possibly have the opportunity to feel upset about the experience?
So last week Attorney General William Barr traveled to Boro Park in Brooklyn and vowed to bring down the full weight of the federal government upon anti-Semitic violence. Who did he target? She who slaps Jews or those who gun us down?
Our esteemed attorney general went after what must be the most dangerous of these forces. He announced federal hate-crime charges against…drum roll, please…Tiffany Harris.
“This will not be an isolated case,” Barr said during his Brooklyn visit last week, as quoted in The New York Times. “We will move aggressively if we see this kind of activity.”
Harris should be prosecuted in the midst of the rampage of assaults against Jews throughout Brooklyn. In fact, she is being prosecuted. The Times reports that she faces New York state charges comprising assault, attempted assault, harassment and menacing, and she admitted to slapping three women in thinking they were Jewish.
She who slaps Jews, allegedly, swiftly rose in prominence when she benefited from a new bail reform law which bars judges from setting bail for a lengthy number of misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies comprising many instances of burglary, robbery, drug offenses, assault and arson.
Harris’s case was front-paged after being set free for her first arrest and then being charged the next day with assaulting another woman, according to The Times.
Harris must have been 4 years old when Ari Halberstam, at 16, was among Orthodox Jewish students who were shot by Rashid Baz when he fired on their van carrying them on a ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, 1994. Halberstam died in the attack. Baz, a Lebanese immigrant, was convicted and is serving 141 years in prison.
If Barr, President Trump, and other elected and appointed officials were serious about protecting Jews, they would have acted to reduce gun violence during the last quarter-century since Halberstam’s murder. Generally speaking, gun control would have probably prevented the deaths of thousands of Americans, especially in inner-city shootings and massacres throughout the nation.
I reached the estimate of 20 Jewish deaths while reviewing specific incidents – Ari Halberstam; the 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; one woman at Chabad of Poway; a female executive at the Jewish Federation office in Seattle; a child at a school in Newtown, Conn.; Jewish students in Parkland, Fla.; and two Orthodox Jews inside the Jersey City grocery store on Dec. 10.
Additionally, there were the deaths of two non-Jews during the Jersey City rampage; a non-Jewish security guard at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; and three non-Jews in front of Jewish facilities in Overland Park, Kansas. Victims in most of the other countless gun violence incidents are not usually identified by religion except in such shooting rampages at churches and mosques.
Harris’s arrest came more than two weeks after the Jersey City tragedy, exposing flaws in the new bail reform law aimed at reducing hardships for poor families. Debate also ensued over whether Harris should receive mental health treatment instead of doing time.
With the Jewish attacks mounting in Brooklyn, Barr filed the charges against Harris. According to The Times, the federal complaint recounts that Harris assaulted the three women during a 10-minute period at about 12:40 a.m. in Crown Heights “because of their actual or perceived religion.”
Two victims wore clothing that made them identifiable as Jewish, an FBI agent wrote, The Times reported. In the second assault, Harris approached a woman who was walking with five other Jews, struck her on the back of the head and issued a profane, anti-Semitic comment.
“A bigger, stronger example should have been made of this violent anti-Semitic criminal, not the opposite,” said U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Long Island Republican, according to The Jewish Week. “Neither weakness, ignorance or pandering are going to help here to stop the rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks.”
What could be Barr’s reason for intervening in this particular case? The state is proceeding with the case, and there were no reports of serious injuries. In fact, Jewish Week reported that Harris was ordered to be held for a psychiatric evaluation.
Two reasons stand out. Harris’s case has been sensationalized, and she is an easy target. Perhaps the Department of Justice should file federal hate-crime charges in other instances of anti-Semitic violence in Brooklyn, but was it really necessary for Harris?
“I don’t know how this can be seen as necessary or even humane,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, the executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services, according to The Times.
Sounds as if she has a dim view of the federal government’s priorities. Or this federal government, anyway. Who can blame her?
Barr’s entry into the serial slapper’s case is cowardly and cynical while Jews like myself – not to mention my 320 million fellow Americans – remain in ongoing danger of being gunned down. Until Congress enacts gun control and the president signs it into law.
“It’s a waste of tax money,” added Pat Cipollone, White House counsel.
Oops! Cipollone was talking about impeaching a president who disgraced his office and endangered lives, not to “move aggressively” (Barr’s words, remember?) against she who slaps Jews.
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Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He may be contacted via bruce.ticker@sdjewishworld.com