Florida International University College Republicans Denounce Antisemitic, Racist WhatsApp Group

The Florida International University (FIU) chapter of College Republicans, one of the largest conservative student groups in the US, has condemned antisemitism and other forms of bigotry following the revelation of a virulently racist group chat in which conservative youth exchanged antisemitic slurs while calling for the of murder African Americans.

“As the first female Jewish president of FIU College Republicans, I can personally attest that the recent reports regarding an external chat have no place in our society,” Gabriela Burstein said in a blistering statement condemning the chat, which reportedly included members of her College Republicans chapter.

“There is simply no place for antisemitism, racism, or violence of any kind and in no way reflect our conservative community within Florida,” she continued. “Our executive board, chapter members, community supporters, and I are absolutely appalled by the rhetoric that has surfaced.

As first reported by The Miami Herald, the group chat, created on WhatsApp, was described by its members as “Nazi heaven” for the daily barrage of extremist comments contributed to it. Individuals affiliated with the Miami Dade Country Republicans, Turning Point USA, and College Republicans casually said “ni—er,” denounced women as “whores,” and spoke rapturously about Adolf Hitler.

Dariel Gonzalez, according to the Herald, was one of the chat’s most prolific contributors, bandying about comments regarding “color professors” and telling members that “You can f—k all the k—kes you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.” Gonzalez, a former board member of FIU’s College Republicans, also reportedly promoted belief in “Agartha,” a Nazi utopia confected by Heinrich Himmler, while fantasizing about the possibility of engaging in onanism there. Some vile remarks drew the approbation of other chat members, many of whom are connected to Republican Party organizations across the state.

The Herald added that the chat was founded by Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party. On Thursday, the organization denounced him and the chat, adding that it has demanded his resignation.

“His words and actions are reprehensible and are completely inconsistent with the values of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County. The words and actions of this individual do not speak for our party,” chairman Kevin Cooper said in a statement. “We are the party that fought to end slavery, the party that welcomed Cuban refugees fleeing communism to freedom in Miami, and the party that continues to welcome Americans of every race, faith, gender, and nationality who believe in liberty and opportunity.”

FIU president Jeanette Nuñez described the content of the group chat as “abhorrent and extremely disturbing language” in her own statement.

“FIU does not and will not tolerate violence, hate, discrimination, harassment, racism or antisemitism. This is not who we are. This is not what FIU stands for,” she added. “We take these allegations very seriously. The alleged conduct continues to be investigated by FIU Police Department in coordination with local, state, and federal law enforcement. In addition, the FIU Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity are actively investigating the matter.”

The group chat’s exposure comes at a time when, according to recent polling, young Republicans have increasingly embraced antisemitism and conspiracy theories.

Last month, for example, survey by Irwin Mansdorf, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, and Charles Jacobs, president of the Jewish Leadership Project, found that 45 percent of Republicans under the age of 44 said Jews pose a threat to the “American way of life.”

In December, the Manhattan Institute, a prominent US-based think tank, released a major poll showing that younger Republican voters are much less supportive of Israel and more likely to express antisemitic views than their older cohorts.

According to the data, 25 percent of Republicans under 50 openly express antisemitic views as opposed to just 4 percent over the age of 50.

Startlingly, a substantial amount, 37 percent, of GOP voters indicate belief in Holocaust denialism. These figures are more pronounced among young men under 50, with a majority, 54 percent, agreeing that the Holocaust “was greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe.” Among men over 50, 41 percent agree with the sentiment.

This dynamic has played out on college and university campuses across the US, where antisemitism has surged in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

The Algemeiner has reported daily on campus antisemitism incidents which involved identity-based physical assaults, verbal abuse, and others acts of discrimination. These included anti-Zionists spitting on Jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley while calling them “Jew”; gang assaults at Columbia University’s Butler Library; swastika graffiti; the desecration of Jewish religious symbols; and the expulsion of a sexual assault survivor from a victim support group over her support for Zionism.

Other incidents include a faculty group’s sharing an antisemitic political cartoon which marked Jews and Israel as enemies of people of color; a Cornell University student threatening to murder Jewish men, whom he called pigs, and to rape Jewish women, and perpetrate a mass shooting at the campus’ kosher dining hall; and professors praising Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, which included mass murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping as legitimate modes of “resistance.”

Many such incidents preceded the Oct. 7 massacre by several years and received little to no coverage in the mainstream press.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.