Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is listed by AFSC Investigate and Who Profits for its direct supply of vehicles and chassis to the Israeli Occupational Forces. Ford trucks form the base platform for multiple armored vehicles deployed across occupied Palestine. The company also operates a research and development center in Tel Aviv.
Arming the Israeli Occupation
Ford's F-550 chassis is the foundation of the SandCat Tigris, a 4X4 armored vehicle manufactured by Israeli company Plasan Sasa. In November 2022, the Israeli Ministry of War purchased 50 SandCat armored vehicles on the Ford F-550 platform for raids across the occupied West Bank, in a deal estimated at over NIS 50 million. In early 2023, SandCat Tigris were deployed in Gaza during Israel's genocide. The SandCat was also documented during military invasion and arrests in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
Ford F-350 pickup trucks serve as the base for the IOF's Segev Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle, an autonomous vehicle designed to surveil and patrol the barrier surrounding Gaza. The vehicles were equipped by Elbit Systems with remote driving technology, 360-degree observation cameras, and in 2017 were armed with remotely operated weapons systems. The Segev has been deployed to maintain Israel's blockade of Gaza since 2016.
The IOF's use of Ford platforms dates back to at least 2003, when Ford F-550 trucks were retrofitted into Armored Personnel Carriers for use in the occupied West Bank. In 2006, the Wolf armored personnel carrier, based on the Ford F-550, became one of the main vehicles used by the IOF in occupied Palestine. In 2017, the IOF purchased 290 Ford F-150 and F-350 trucks. In mid-October 2023, the Israeli Ministry of War began accelerated purchase of US-made armored vehicles, including vans and SUVs made by Ford, funded through US military aid.
From antisemitism to Zionism
Ford Motor Company's founder, Henry Ford, was one of the most influential antisemites in American history. Ford's antisemitism directly influenced the Nazi regime. Some of his newspaper publications were translated into German in 1922 and cited as an influence by Nazi youth leader Baldur von Schirach. Adolf Hitler praised Ford in Mein Kampf, called him "a single great man," and kept a large portrait of Ford in his Munich office.
Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, deliberately pivoted the company toward Israel as reputation laundering. Shortly after the Nakba and creation of Israel, he oversaw a trade deal that sent a major shipment of automotive parts to Israel. Around the time of the Six Day War in 1967, Ford gave Jewish businessman Max Fisher, a personal note with a $100,000 check for the Israeli Emergency Fund.
Ford then built an assembly plant in Nazareth, defying the Arab boycott. By the 1970s, the Nazareth plant was also assembling Ford Transits, trucks, and buses for export to South Africa.
BDS movement target
Ford is listed by the BDS movement as one of its targets for institutional pressure, alongside arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon. The company is listed among corporations implicated in arming Israel's genocide on Gaza.
Sources:
- AFSC Investigate Ford Motor Co
- BDS Movement Get Involved - Divestment
- Ford Police Vehicles
- Israel Defense The Challenge: Mission Intelligence for UGVs
- The Jerusalem Post 100 Years of Ford and the Jews: From Antisemitism to Zionism
- PBS Ford's Anti-Semitism
- Who Profits Ford Motor Company
- Worth Rises The Prison Industry