JTA — A far-right extremist YouTuber who has said he wants to see “another Hitler” has raised more than $19,000 for a Cornell University student who told a potential employer that he was “not interested in working for a jew.”

The message was written by 19-year-old Austin Franco, a member of Cornell’s class of 2028, during his application process for an internship at a software company owned by two Jewish brothers, Gabe and Aiden Einhorn. The message, which Franco sent via the job application platform Handshake, went viral last week after Gabe Einhorn posted it on X.

“This kid applied to our job on handshake, we accepted him, and then he responded this,” Einhorn tweeted. “He probably knows nothing about Jews accept [sic] for what they tell him in college and on social media. Sad world.”

Einhorn’s tweet initially included a screenshot showing Franco’s name, but a minute after posting, he edited his tweet to obscure the name. (X allows users to view prior versions of edited posts.)

Franco drew more attention to himself the next day when he responded to Einhorn to explain his comment.

“I was stating why I was not interested after you had asked to interview 3 times,” Franco replied. “I found out you were Jewish after the fact. My experiences with Jews have not been pleasant, both in person and online. This is not to say I havent had positive experiences, but on the aggregate that is not the case.”

Alluding to the criticism that he had received, he continued, “The reactions by your community only serves to further prove my point.” Efforts by JTA to reach Franco were unsuccessful.

Franco’s comments have triggered a bias investigation by Cornell. They have also been widely condemned by antisemitism watchdogs, the university and government officials — some of whom suggested that his comments should prevent him from being hired anywhere.

Leo Terrell, chair of the Department of Justice’s task force to combat antisemitism, posted dozens of times about the incident from his personal account, including one post urging the public to make Franco “permanently unemployable.”

But in antisemitic corners of the internet, Franco is emerging as a heroic figure, someone seen as willing to speak truth to power and say publicly what many believe about Jews.

“They’re treating him like a hero,” Gabe Einhorn told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview. “There’s these main players with millions of followers across their accounts that their job, literally all they do, is post about antisemitic stuff,” he added. “They’re kind of leading the charge there, so they’re........

© The Times of Israel