Shortly after October 7th, 2023, Denver-based AI firm Palantir Technologies took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, stating that “Palantir stands with Israel.” In early 2024, Palantir signed a new contract with the Israeli government that enabled the Israel Defense Forces to use the company’s AI software to help carry out the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The Israeli government was already using Palantir’s software years prior to this latest deal. In 2017, Haaretz linked the arrests of scores of Palestinians to social media profiling systems that Palantir had provided to Israeli security organizations.
Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, and Stephen Cohen. One of the company’s early investors was the United States Central Intelligence Agency’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel. Since its inception, Palantir has worked closely with the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and many other government agencies and police departments to help surveil, track, deport, and incarcerate people in the United States and abroad.
Since October 7th, 2023, the company’s profits have soared. Palantir’s AI software is currently being used by the Israel Defense Forces to surveil, track, and build kill lists of people in Gaza. The current confirmed death toll in Gaza as of May, 2025 is reported to be 62,000, although methodology suggested by the UK medical journal The Lancet indicates the death toll is likely more than 4 times higher, or at least 248,000.
In its contracts with ICE and DHS, Palantir is also profiting from the illegal deportations, forced human trafficking to CECOT in El Salvador, and the related human rights abuses of people in the Untied States including students who are being detained illegally for their criticisms of Israel.
Through its work both at home and around the world, Palantir is actively violating their own internal human rights policy, which reads:
“Palantir acknowledges its corporate responsibility to endeavor to protect human rights and supports the principles outlined in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the “UDHR”), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the human rights guidance set forth in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.”
Denver Anti-War Action demands the following of Palantir:
- Cut Ties With Genocide. Immediately cut ties with Israel and cancel all contracts with the Israeli government. Denver Anti-War Action and its allies stand together in opposition to the ongoing attacks against the roughly 6 million Palestinians throughout the occupied territories.
- End all contracts with governments and entities that use Palantir’s software to violate human rights, civil liberties, and constitutional rights. This includes but is not limited to: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Additionally, Denver Anti-War Action will work to bring about the implementation of state and local laws that ban the development and deployment of artificial intelligence weapons.
Denver Anti-War Action calls on all organizations, movements, workers, and individuals to pressure Palantir and the State of Colorado to enact these demands and safeguard human rights!