Nuclear War in Borough Park: Hikind and Greenfield Trade Barbs In DA Race

 A war of words has erupted between the two power brokers in the Orthodox community in the race for Brooklyn District Attorney, late Friday. In the first public battle since the 2012 primaries, Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind, surrogates for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and challenger Ken Thompson respectively, traded blows after Mr. Greenfield said at a press conference that Mr. Thompson vowed to “target the Jewish community” for prosecution.

Mr. Greenfield's line of attack was based on a January interview in which Mr. Thompson attacked Hynes for treating the Orthodox Jewish community, in general, at a higher standard in prosecution cases.

"Councilman Greenfield ought to apologize for spreading disgusting lies about Ken Thompson in the Orthodox Jewish community," Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote in a statement released by the Ken Thompson campaign. "Unlike D.A. Hynes, who has said that Orthodox Jews are "insular" and worse than the Mafia, Ken has repeatedly stated that he will restore confidence, and fight for safety and justice for every community in Brooklyn.

With such an indefensible record of prosecuting inconsistently depending on which way the political wind blows and flip-flopping before an election, it's no surprise that Mr. Hynes and his defenders have resorted to unconscionable gutter politics to distract voters from the truth.

Baseless slandering from a desperate campaign has no place in Brooklyn." In a back and forth Twitter conversation, councilman Greenfield, maintained his Thompson criticism in response to Mr. Hikind’s attack.

“Hikind can yell and scream,” Mr. Greenfield tweeted. “but it won’t change the fact that his candidate for District Attorney has promised to target the Orthodox Jewish community.”

For their part, the Hynes camp said they were glad that Mr. Hikind was with the Thompson team. “We are proud of the strong support we have in the Orthodox community,” George Arzt, a spokesman for Mr. Hynes told Politicker. "We are happy that Dov Hikind, with all his baggage, is with our opponent.”

"There's a reason why 2 dozen Jewish community leaders stood with me to support DA Hynes & no one showed up to his opponents press conference," Mr. Greenfield continued. "We don't always agree with Hynes but we know him, trust him and support him.

His opponent would target Jews. Don't walk, run to polls on 9/10!" "My job includes defending community. If Ken Thompson walks back his remarks on Orthodox Jews, I'm happy to move on," Mr. Greenfiled later tweeted, directly referring to Mr. Hikind's call to apologize. The battle over the Orthodox Jewish votes, based on Friday's war of words, is expected to become the battle of the giants in which one way or another will have a tremendous effect in the community following the primaries.

(Jacob Kornbuh - YWN)