Ford Motor Company’s X account sent out a flurry of anti-Israel posts Monday, prompting concerns that hackers could have accessed the account.
The now-deleted posts read “Free Palestine,” “Israel is a terrorist state,” and “ALL EYES ON GAZA.” The account of the Dearborn, Michigan-headquartered carmaker reaches out to 1.4 million followers.
In an apparent “Post and Delete”, the U.S. Carmaker Ford posted a series of posts criticizing Israel. No word as of yet from the company on the posts. pic.twitter.com/TioLoGZje9
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 30, 2024
Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres was among many online who speculated that the company‘s X account might have been hacked.
“Ford Motor Company must have been hacked by the Free Palestine movement,” Torres posted.
Ford Motor Company must have been hacked by the Free Palestine movement. pic.twitter.com/4VOk1nPy0n
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) December 30, 2024
Others alleged that one of the carmaker’s social media personnel was responsible for the posts and might have forgotten to switch accounts.
Don’t give us the “We were hacked!!” bullshit, @Ford
Your social media person just forgot to switch accounts. pic.twitter.com/lcJHqu6Ho5
— Joo🎗️ (@JoosyJew) December 30, 2024
Still, others humorously suggested that the ghost of the carmaker‘s founder Henry Ford was responsible for the posts.
Henry Ford watching their intern tweet out “Fuck Israel” https://t.co/H3O4CCY9Sc pic.twitter.com/PS2UFE3Sxi
— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) December 30, 2024
“The most controversial and least admirable aspect of Ford’s career was his descent into anti-Semitism,” an article on the website of the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation partly reads.
Henry Ford bought a financially troubled community paper, the Dearborn Independent, in 1918. An antiwar crusader who was also famous for offering a then-revolutionary daily wage of $5 — about $153–$157 in 2024 — Ford aimed to use the paper to counterattack “a hostile press controlled by banks and other powerful financial interests,” convinced that they were running a campaign of calumny against him for his views and political ambitions, according to the article.
Ford began using the paper to publish his personal antisemitic views on Jews on May 22, 1920, running a front-page series titled, “The International Jew: the World’s Problem” for several years. Populist sensibilities at the time influenced his thinking that Jewish financiers funded the First World War and that Jews intended to dominate the world. (RELATED: DEI Official Fired After Saying University Is ‘Controlled By Wealthy Jews’)
“The basis for the articles was an ancient and notorious forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic hoax, first published in Russia in 1903,” the article stated.
Very touching to see the company honoring the memory of Henry Ford during the holidays like this. pic.twitter.com/Va8WsYzeUb
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) December 30, 2024
Ford, longing for a culturally conservative past, also believed that Jews were responsible for the decadent moral progressivism of his day.
Ford faced immense public pressure for the series and for using the Dearborn Independent to attack Jewish-American lawyer Aaron Sapiro. As part of an out-of-court settlement with Sapiro, Ford closed the paper in 1927, paid Sapiro, and agreed to issue a formal apology, according to the article.
Nazi Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler personally admired Ford’s antisemitism, although Ford’s German subsidiary struggled due to German nationalism, according to an article published by the Anti-Defamation League. Hitler and the Nazi Party drew inspiration from “The International Jew” for their antisemitic platform and beliefs.
