New biography reveals US tech giant Palantir's role in deadly Lebanon pager attacks
By isabelle // 2025-12-12
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  • Palantir's AI tools were integral to a lethal Israeli military operation in Lebanon.
  • The company's systems enabled automated targeting in Gaza and are accused of flagging civilians.
  • A 2024 operation used rigged pagers to kill and maim, including children and civilians.
  • UN experts condemn these acts as potential war crimes and violations of international law.
  • This marks the global export of warfare technology tested on occupied populations.
A shocking new biography has pulled back the curtain on the direct involvement of a powerful American tech company in one of Israel’s most brutal and unconventional military operations. The revelation exposes how modern surveillance technology is being weaponized against civilian populations, raising grave ethical and legal questions that the world can no longer ignore. According to the biography The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State by Michael Steinberger, the software and services of Palantir, the data-mining firm co-founded by Alex Karp, were integral to Israeli military actions in Lebanon in 2024. The book states that after the war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israel’s demand for Palantir’s tools surged. "The demand for Palantir’s assistance was so great that the company dispatched a team of engineers from London to help get Israeli users online," Steinberger wrote. This partnership bore deadly fruit in September 2024 during what Israel called Operation Grim Beeper. Over two days, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members and their associates exploded across Lebanon. The devices, which Israel had infiltrated into the supply chain, displayed "Error" messages and vibrated loudly to lure people close before detonating. The attacks killed 42 people, including children, and wounded more than 3,400, leaving many with life-altering injuries to their eyes, face and hands.

A terrifying new warfare

United Nations experts were swift to condemn the pager attacks, calling them a "terrifying" violation of international law. The UN’s Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has separately accused Palantir of providing AI technology used in Israel’s war on Gaza. In a July 2025 report, she detailed that Palantir’s systems allowed for "automated decision making" on the battlefield and called for investigations into corporate executives for complicity in international crimes. The human cost of this tech-enabled warfare is visceral and lasting. Survivors interviewed by The Associated Press ten months later are easily identified by missing eyes, scarred faces and hands with missing fingers. Sarah Jaffal, 21, a civilian who picked up a family member’s pager, has undergone 45 surgeries. "I felt I was in a whirlpool," she said of the blast. Twelve-year-old Hussein Dheini lost an eye, his fingertips, and had his teeth blown out. His grandmother picked the tip of his nose off the couch.

The Palestine laboratory goes global

This episode is not an anomaly but a product of a long-standing strategy. For decades, Israel has used the occupied Palestinian territories as a laboratory for surveillance and population control tactics, later marketing these "battle-tested" tools worldwide. Palantir’s deep involvement signifies how seamlessly this model has been adopted by Silicon Valley, merging profit with perpetual warfare. As one analyst of the illicit arms trade noted, no other arms-producing country would dare showcase actual footage of civilians being targeted in their marketing, yet Israel operates beyond these norms. The alliance between a leading U.S. tech company and a nation accused of apartheid and war crimes represents a profound moral failure. It illustrates a world where algorithmic efficiency trumps humanity, and where corporate boards in London and Tel Aviv can enable actions that UN rapporteurs label as potential war crimes. When former CIA director Leon Panetta states such an operation is "a form of terrorism," the severity of the partnership comes into sharp focus. The story of Operation Grim Beeper is a warning. It shows how the tools of the digital age, developed in the name of security and innovation, are being deployed to enact terrifying violence with clinical precision. The scars on survivors in Lebanon are a permanent testament to a new and disturbing form of warfare, one where technology companies have become active combatants. As these alliances deepen, the very architecture of a free and ethical future is being compromised, one line of code at a time. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net ZeroHedge.com PBS.org
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