Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin Heralds the Newly-Signed Historic Peace Treaty With Egypt

He writes Henry Ford II of the Ford Motor Company, calling him “dear friend”, who had done so much to aid the Jewish state since its founding; Ford aided Israel in part to overcome any lingering thought of anti-semitism at Ford, which had been so prominent in his grandfather’s day

Israel and Egypt had been engaged in hostilities for three decades, and this resulted in four wars in twenty four years. These constant conflicts were a disastrous drag on the Egyptian economy and stood as a barrier to its receiving aid from the United States and many NATO countries. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s own brother had been killed in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. But President Sadat was a visionary, and personally fearless. On November 9, 1977, he stunned the world by announcing his intention to personally go to Jerusalem and speak before the Israeli Knesset to seek a permanent peace settlement between Israel and Egypt. The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, rose to the occasion, and ignoring those who saw Sadat’s move as some kind of trick, cordially invited him to address the Knesset in a message passed to Sadat via the US ambassador to Egypt. This was something of a surprise, as Begin had a reputation as a hard-liner, and some expected him to reject Sadat’s overture. Ten days after his announcement, Sadat arrived for the groundbreaking three-day visit, which launched the first peace process between Israel and an Arab state. He met with Begin and spoke before Israel’s parliament, as the world looked on, in utter shock and glued to the television.

The visit was, however, was met with outrage in most of the Arab world. Despite criticism from Egypt’s regional allies, Sadat continued to pursue peace with Begin, and in September 1978 the two leaders met in the United States at Camp David, Maryland, where they negotiated an agreement through a broker both trusted – U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The Camp David Accords, the first peace agreement between the state of Israel and one of its Arab neighbors, laid the groundwork for diplomatic and commercial relations.

In a ceremony at the White House on March 26, 1979, Sadat and Begin signed the historic peace agreement, leading to the establishment of diplomatic and commercial ties. It was considered the diplomatic triumph of the the era. President Jimmy Carter, who had been so instrumental in making the treaty possible, oversaw the signing, and untold millions watched on television.

For their achievement, Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace. Sadat’s peace efforts were not so highly acclaimed in the Arab world at the time – Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and on October 6, 1981, Muslim extremists assassinated Sadat in Cairo. He is widely recognized today as a martyr to peace. Nevertheless, the peace process continued without Sadat, and in 1982 Egypt formally established diplomatic relations with Israel.

Henry Ford, Sr., the great automobile pioneer, was a notorious anti-semite. He established a newspaper called “The Dearborn Independent”, which would liberally cite and elaborate upon the Czarist forgery “Protocol of the Elders of Zion,” blaming the international Jewish conspiracy for war, poverty, Bolshevism and even “Jewish Jazz-Moron Music.” “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem” – was one of a sort of “greatest hits” of antisemitic articles published in the paper.

If the elder Henry Ford’s antisemitism is legendary, his grandson’s Henry Ford II’s Zionism and support of Jewish causes is certainly less well-known. Shortly after Israeli independence, Ford II oversaw a trade deal that would see a major shipment of automotive parts to Israel to help alleviate the young state’s transportation crisis. The next year, Henry Ford II personally presented Israel’s first president with a Ford Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Reportedly, the only other recipient of that specific model was US President Harry Truman. A $50,000 contribution from Ford in 1950 made him the top donor to the United Jewish Appeal’s first-ever Christian Committee Campaign for Israel. Around the time of the Six Day War in 1967, Ford gave a $100,000 check for the Israeli Emergency Fund. Shortly thereafter, he fulfilled his promise to build an assembly plant in Israel and maintain business dealings with the Jewish state, refusing to give in to boycott threats despite extensive and lucrative interests across the Arab world. The Arab boycott against Ford Motor Company took effect, at which point Ford reportedly said, “Nobody’s gonna tell me what to do.” He later elaborated on the decision. “It was just pragmatic business procedure… I don’t mind saying I was influenced in part by the fact that the company still suffers from a resentment against the antisemitism of the distant past. We want to overcome that.” Ford visited Israel in 1971 and met then Prime Minister Golda Meir. Henry II’s interest in Israel has continued in future generations in his family. Bill Ford, current executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford’s great-grandson, visited Israel in 2019 to inaugurate the new Ford Research Center in Tel Aviv. This organization serves today as a research hub augmenting Ford’s global Research and Advanced Engineering team. It will also support Ford’s automotive and mobility businesses by identifying technologies and start-up companies in the fields of connectivity, sensors, automated-systems research, in-vehicle monitoring, and cyber security.

Typed letter signed, on his Prime Minister letterhead, Jerusalem, April 8, 1979, to Henry Ford II, upon the signing of the peace treaty, and elaborating on its meaning. Begin starts by addressing Ford as a “Dear Friend”, and continues, “I thank you from the heart for your warm message of greetings and congratulation.

“May the historic treaty of peace between Israel and Egypt herald in a new epoch for both our ancient peoples and, indeed, for the Middle East as a whole. It is to this sacred goal that we, the people and Government of Israel, shall continue to dedicate ourselves.”

This is as fine a letter of Begin as we have ever carried.