Media

NYT Fears Anti-Semitic Threats Could Be ‘Setback’ For The Man Who Made Them

Facebook/Public Photo

Mike Brest Reporter
Font Size:

The New York Times reportedly wrote a sympathetic headline on Sunday for a man who was accused of anti-Semitic hate crimes at New York synagogues.

According to The Washington Free Beacon, the article’s headline was “Man Accused of Anti-Semitic Vandalism Faces New Setback in a Life Full of Them.”

The article was reportedly featured in Sunday’s print edition of the New York Times.

Police arrested James Polite, 26, Friday night based on surveillance footage that allegedly captured him writing “Die Jew Rats” and “Hitler,” on the Union Temple of Brooklyn. He was also arrested for allegedly setting fires at five different Jewish organizations’ buildings. (RELATED: NYT Makes Changes To Election Needle So Readers Won’t Get Upset)

James Polite / Facebook

James Polite / Facebook

The NYT discussed Polite’s rough childhood upbringing, his struggle with addiction, and his internship with the City Council — focusing more on his mental struggles than on the hate crime he’s been accused of committing.

The vandalism at the New York synagogues came about a week after eleven Jewish people were gunned down in a Pittsburgh synagogue. (RELATED: Trump Visits Memorial Dedicated To Pittsburgh Synagogue Victims)

The Times profiled Polite last year, noting that he was an LGBT foster youth who “could defy the statistics” after becoming the “adopted child of the Quinn administration,” as Christine Quinn, then the speaker of the New York city council, put it. “And it wasn’t just me. It was the entire City Council staff.”

Follow Mike on Twitter.