Days after Assemblyman Dov Hikind and Councilman David Greenfield traded bards at each other in the race for Brooklyn DA, incumbent Charles Hynes faced off against his challenger Ken Thompson in a TV debate, Tuesday night, moderated by Errol Louis. At a press conference last week, Mr. Greenfield warned that Thompson had pledged to “target Jews”. As an acting surrogate for the campaign of Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hikind released a statement demanding an apology from Mr. Greenfield.

During the debate, Mr. Thompson categorized Mr. Greenfield’s remarks as blatant lies. “David Greenfield is lying,” said Thompson. “I have never met the man before in my life. I intend to treat every community equally and fairly. I intend to make sure that there is one standard of justice in Brooklyn for all.”

Mr. Hynes disputed Mr. Thompson’s claim, saying that Councilman David Greenfield reported that Thompson had stated his intention to be “very aggressive about prosecuting Jews” on two different occasions. “I have respect for David Greenfield and if that is what he heard then I have to [believe him],” said Mr. Hynes.

In a hard hitting piece in the NY Times, Michael Powell criticized Mr. Hynes for standing silence when the comments were made by Mr. Greenfield.

“[Thompson] singled out my community,” Mr. Greenfield told the Times. “To say that one community is treated better creates animosity.”

In all fairness, in defense of Mr. Greenfield’s outrage, Mr. Thompson did refer to the Orthodox community when Brooklyn DA conducting different standards of Justice to different communities depending on where they live in Brooklyn. “We can’t have different standards of justice based on where you live in Brooklyn,” Mr. Thompson said. “Every community in Brooklyn has to be treated the same. When I become Brooklyn DA, I’ll make sure there’s equal justice for everyone, under the law. ”

“Who is getting different treatment depending on where they live?” the host Errol Louis asked. “Well, you see the reports coming out in terms of how certain defendants in the Orthodox Jewish community are treated,” Mr. Thompson responded, before alluding to certain molestation cases where the names were not disclosed to protect the defendants.

Reaching out to Orthodox Jewish voters, Mr. Thompson specifically addressed the issue in an interview with the Weekly Link magazine.

“In January you gave an interview for NY1 where some argue you claimed that Mr. Hynes gives special treatment for Jews. Is that true? the Weekly Link asked Mr. Thompson.

“No, I didn’t make the claim,” Mr. Thompson responded. “I was responding to a New York Times story that Hynes treats your community differently so I made it clear that under my leadership everyone will be treated the same. This would include not calling your community mafia-like or comparing Shomrim to street gangs as Hynes did in 2008.”

Ken Thompson In The Weekly Link

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)