The CEO of Palantir says he expects to keep losing employees over the company's support for Israel

Shubhangi Goel
·2 min read
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  • The CEO of Palantir said the company has lost employees due to its support of Israel.

  • The American data analytics company provides artificial intelligence models to Israel's military.

  • In January, Palantir held its first board meeting of the year in Tel Aviv.

Palantir CEO Alexander Karp said the company has lost employees due to its public support for Israel.

"We've lost employees. I'm sure we'll lose employees," Karp said in an interview with CNBC's "Money Movers" on Wednesday. "If you have a position that does not cost you ever to lose an employee, it's not a position."

The American data analysis company provides militaries, including those of Israel and Ukraine, with artificial intelligence models. In January, the company held its first board meeting of the year in Tel Aviv. It later said it had agreed to a partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to supply technology to help the country's war effort.

"This is not a small issue. From my perspective it's not just about Israel," Karp told CNBC on Wednesday. "Do you believe in the West? Do you believe that the West has created a superior way of living. Are you willing to admit you believe that?"

Palantir has publicly and repeatedly announced its support of Israel on social media and in interviews since Hamas launched a series of terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people. In response to the attacks, Israel launched a full-scale attack on Gaza. More than 75% of Gaza's population has since been internally displaced. At least 31,341 people have since been killed in Gaza, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Thursday.

The CEOs of major US-based companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and BlackRock all condemned Hamas in the immediate aftermath of its attack on Israel. Few leaders of major US-based businesses have continued to express support for Israel as clearly as Karp has.

Last week, a Google employee who publicly protested a talk by the head of Google Israel lost his job because of "violating" Google's policies, the tech giant said in a statement to The Verge. Over 600 Google employees signed a letter asking the tech giant to cut ties with the same conference that promotes Israeli tech companies, Wired reported in early March.

Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Disclosure: Palantir Technologies CEO Alexander Karp is a member of Axel Springer's shareholder committee. Axel Springer owns Insider Inc, Business Insider's parent company.

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