Brooklyn DA Gonzalez Walks Down 13th Avenue to Reassure Boro Parkers as Yom Tov Continues

By Yehudit Garmaise

      Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez took a walk down 13th Avenue today, amid the hustle and bustle of Boro Parkers making their last-minute Sukkos preparations, to visit several stores and check out the beauty of z’man simchasanu.

     “The responsibilities of the district attorney are to keep folks safe,” said DA Gonzalez, who stopped into Toys 4 U, Amnon’s Pizza, Me’Feor Judaica, Judaica Corner, and Wilhelm’s: the Sukkah Stuff Megastore, which is a temporary store. 

     In Hatzorfim Silver Store, Gonzalez, who is known for taking particular care to fight hate crimes and swiftly mete out justice to their perpetrators, was shown an elegantly set Yom Tov table, with a white tablecloth, and beautiful silver and gold candlesticks, plates, and silverware.

     “Also just knowing that the community knows that the district attorney is present and cares about the community and will be here in good times and bad times,” Gonzalez said. “So thank you for having me here.

     "It is an honor, just right before the holidays, to see all of the children and all of the families on the streets, who really remind me of the sacred vow I took to protect the Brooklyn community and the Jewish community: to keep everyone safe.”

   In August, Gonzalez and David Klestzick, the deputy chief of the trial division at the King’s County DA Office, visited several neighborhoods in the Catskills to connect with the Jewish community, which he said “is a huge part of his constituency.”

    Over the summer, Gonzalez also wanted to relay the message that “he will come out when anything is needed from his office to help out,” said a Brooklynite who was in the Catskills during Gonzalez’s visit. 

     As many New York politicians, including potentially New York Attorney General Letitia James, consider running for governor of the state, some have said that Gonzalez, who is considered a popular district attorney, could be a front runner for attorney general, as his Kings County constituency is the state’s most populated.

     Gonzalez, who said that he ‘has been making a lot of inroads’ into fighting anti-Semitic hate crimes, is the only district attorney to have hired a team of 10 senior investigators to work exclusively on hate crimes and quickly indicted the three young men who were charged with committing anti-Semitic hate crimes in Boro Park and Flatbush.

    On May 26, the young men were charged, and by June 7, they were indicted on 30 counts, which could result in one and one-third to four years in prison.