Companies against Israel

The recent vilifying posts on X, attributed to the Ford Motor Company, decidedly taking the side of Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran/the Houthis and all the other enemies of the Jewish homeland, were said to be the work of a hacker who, somehow, briefly got into their X account, compromising it.

Ford put out a statement saying, “Our X account was briefly compromised and the previous three posts were not authorized or posted by Ford. We are investigating the issue and apologize for any confusion.”

What is interesting about all of this, is the history of the Ford Motor Company, which did, indeed, collaborate with the Third Reich. While they might argue that they had no choice, they, nonetheless, tried to appease the Nazi regime, a fact of history which cannot be erased. 

According to an article appearing on the Anti-Defamation League’s website entitled, “The Ford Motor Company and the Third Reich, “the company’s managers at Cologne (Germany) attempted to assuage the Nazis’ concerns by removing foreign and Jewish members of the subsidiary’s management board” back in the 1930s. The Ford company, in Germany known as Fordwerke’s, further came to the rescue of the Nazi regime by helping to import needed raw materials as well as providing the foreign currency to pay for them. 

Among Hitler’s American friends was the company’s founder, Henry Ford who is said to have held “deeply prejudiced personal views.” In fact, Ford was granted honorable mention in Adolf Hitler’s, Mein Kampf manifesto, as well as a book written by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler. Hitler referred to Ford as “a single great man,” whereas Himmler gave him the distinction of being “one of our most valuable, important and witty fighters.”

So instrumental was Henry Ford to the Nazi movement, that his picture was hung on Hitler’s office wall, not surprising since he claimed to admire Ford’s anti-Jewish positions, frequently expressed in the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper which Ford had purchased. It was in that periodical that he condemned the influence of Jews in America, often by using shameful stereotypical slurs against them.  

Ironically, most of this history of Henry Ford is unknown to Jews, throughout the world, who only know the Ford Motor Company as one of many car manufacturers, devoid of political or racial leanings, similar to other well-known companies, such as Swarovski, Adidas, among others, who did business with the Nazis back then, but today, have succeeded in restoring their name, through the passage of much time.

So, while many of these companies have managed to overcome their antisemitic past, the tragic events of October 7th, which have in large part, brought about a re-emergence of hateful views, that had been carefully suppressed, has influenced a new generation to advocate on behalf of terrorists who have successfully convinced them, through social media, that the Jews are evil and their homeland is committing a genocide. 

Of course, most companies would not want to find themselves embroiled in the accusation that they are guilty of a racial animus against either the Jewish people or their homeland, especially at a time when more and more terrorists are committing heinous attacks in America, the latest being a car ramming which occurred just as the 2025 new year rolled in, killing 14 and wounding scores of others in New Orleans.

But there are definitely companies who are unashamedly pro-Palestinian, and they are listed in www.launchgood.com, under the article, “Brands that support Palestine in 2024.” 

In the case of Ford Motor Company, while it’s possible that the company was, indeed, hacked, it also might have been the work of an independent employee, whose political positions are aligned with the Free Palestine Movement. Ford must know that it would be disastrous to find itself on the wrong side of the Jews, yet again, and that is why they wasted no time apologizing for the posts, even if they were the results of a clever hacker.   

So many of today’s companies, which had a checkered past, when relating to the Jews, are those we associate with staples of the American cultural, just like apple pie and patriotic parades down Main Street. At a time when so many iconic pillars are being challenged and even destroyed, companies have a great challenge in front of them, not to bow to the will of employees who are pro-Palestinian and aspire to infect their employers with the personal views of so many of today’s young people. 

Yet, if these workers have access to social media, on behalf of the company, what is to stop something like this from happening again? And if an internal investigation discloses that it was truly one of their employees, will they try to cover it up by saying that their accounts were hacked? We would hope that such individuals would be fired, but who knows?

The fact that anyone working for a company would feel emboldened enough to post reprehensible comments, in an ever-increasing atmosphere of indiscriminate worldwide terror attacks, is a troubling trend which must be addressed, because if no consequences ensue, then any company could easily be accused of harboring anti-Jewish expression when it’s all the work of a hire.

It’s interesting to note that Ford’s main headquarters is located in Michigan, a state which, over the last 20 years, or so, has gathered a very large Arab population, many of whom are extremely anti-Jewish. It is also home to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who represents the 12th congressional district and whose personal and political views are highly enflamed against Israel. 

Given that type of support, in her district, it might be worth exploring whether local advocates, who are invested in such biased political leanings, will be able to influence the companies, for whom they work? If so, will those companies fight back and refuse to bow to the antisemitic feelings of their workers?

At some point, they will all have to take a position and decide whether or not they have the courage and fortitude to reject the growing trend, fueled by individuals who hope to legitimize their groundswell of support for bloodthirsty terrorists, who are geographically expanding their jihad by bringing their murderous ambitions to the shores of America.

While it’s true that some companies cannot erase their unsavory past, they can choose to go forward, having learned from their regrettable mistakes and take a direction that no longer is associated with being on the wrong side of Jewish history.