Controversial data analytics company, Palantir Technologies provided software that Israel used to facilitate its pager and walkie talkie attack covert operation, Operation Grim Beeper that killed more than 42 people and maimed over 3,400, according to a bio review by The New York Times. 

A new biography by Palantir’s excentric co-founder and CEO, Alex Karp, detailed Palantir part in the Israeli covert operation that was condemned by the United Nations (UN) and lead to leading European investors to divest in protest. 

Palantir’s data-based technology has become a pillar in Israel’s kill chain, with its more than one of platforms accused of being deployed to power Israel’s Operation Grim Beeper in 2024. 

They also expose a deeper risk, that Big Tech firms supplying battlefield algorithms face virtually no legal consequences when their products help fuel civilian massacres. As one analyst put it, AI targeting systems are becoming “the digital equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction,” yet exist in a regulatory vacuum. 

Palantir Fueling Operation Grim Beeper 

In “The Philosopher in the Valley,” journalist Michael Steinberger mentions that “the Mossad had been using Palantir technology” before Israel’s 2023–2025 Gaza war, and that the Israeli military urgently sought expanded access after October 7.  

Demand was so high that “the company dispatched a team of engineers from London to help get Israeli users online,” even renting extra office space in Tel Aviv to train intelligence analysts, leading to many operations, one of the biggest operations was the fact that Israel planted bombs in pagers, in Lebanon. 

How Did Israel Get Pagers to Explode in Lebanon? 

Steinberger writes that Palantir software supported “several raids in Gaza” and “military operations in Lebanon in 2024 that decimated Hezbollah’s top leadership.” It was also used in Operation Grim Beeper, the covert pagers attack Israel and walkie-talkie explosions that maimed over 3,400 people and killed at least 42 including two children.  

“Its technology was deployed by the Israelis… when their pagers and walkie-talkies exploded,” the book states, describing a level of AI enabled precision in the Israel rigged pagers attack that raises significant legal questions. 

US President Donald Trump later claimed the Lebanon pagers explosion were carried out “under my auspices,” while the UN denounced them as “war crimes.”  

Addressing the Lebanon pager attack, former CIA director Leon Panetta said, “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism.” 

The UN’s Francesca Albanese further documented Palantir’s executive awareness, noting that in January 2024 the firm announced a new partnership with the Israel covert operation and openly showed “solidarity” during board meetings in Tel Aviv.  

Albanese highlighted the Karp’s controversial statement, “mostly terrorists, that’s true,” made in response to accusations that Palantir’s software had killed Palestinians.  

AI Systems Amplifying Kill Lists 

Human rights groups have long warned that Israel’s AI systems many supported by US data streams and software accelerate the production of kill lists with little human oversight. Israel describes its wars as “AI wars,” with Unit 8200’s Data Science and AI Center developing tools that “transformed the entire concept of targets in the IDF.” 

+972 Magazine’s investigation revealed that systems like Lavender, Gospel, and Where’s Daddyv that did aid in Israel exploding pagers, compile kill lists by sorting through vast surveillance data. According to whistleblowers, these systems were used to target thousands of Palestinians, often relying on flawed or biased inputs.  

Human Rights Watch warned that “Israel is using incomplete data, flawed calculations, and tools not fit for purpose to help make life and death decisions in Gaza.” 

Palantir’s role is not described in operational detail, but its software occupies the same category of mass data mining systems that supercharge target selection. The company openly declared, “Our work in the region has never been more vital. And it will continue.” 

Palantir has advertised its ability to reduce the time between AI detection and lethal action to minutes. One former European minister described the system this way, from identification to execution, “no more than two or three minutes elapse.” 

Even Palantir CEO Alex Karp once stated that, “Our product is used on occasion to kill people.” 

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard argues that Israel’s “24 months of genocide” would not be possible without major arms makers and tech firms powering its war machine.  

“You can denounce as much as you want. If you do not take action, including economic actions, then your words are empty,” she said. 

Norway’s Storebrand Asset Management deprived from Palantir, warning that the company’s services “may breach international humanitarian law.” The firm noted Palantir repeatedly refused to answer inquiries about its role in Israel pagers blowing up. 

Other European governments have also condemned the “brutal warfare” in Gaza, stating the arbitrary strikes and group starvation. The UN Human Rights Council has called for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

But it’s not just about Israel’s Operation Grim Beeper, but also the companies enabling it, with Karp himself bragging that algorithmic warfare now carries the force of “tactical nuclear weapons.” 

And yet, unlike arms manufacturers, tech companies face little oversight and no penalties, because if it did happen ones in charge of the Israel pagers casualties, would have been stopped.  

At the end of the day when the Israel pagers video spread like wildfires, one question immediately surfaces which is, have Lebanon and Gaza become the trial ground for Big Tech’s deadliest tools? 

 With Palantir’s systems involved in mass surveillance, targeted killings, and the deadly Israel pagers blowing up in Lebanon, a disturbing question comes to mind which is, are conflict zones becoming experimental playgrounds for powerful AI firms without rules, transparency, or consequences? 

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