Palantir CEO stands firm in support of Israel despite employee departures
Palantir CEO stands firm in support of Israel despite employee departures
“From my perspective, it’s not just about Israel,” added Alex Karp in an interview to CNBC. “It’s like, ‘Do you believe in the West? Do you believe the West has created a superior way of living?’”
Palantir CEO Alex Karp has revealed that some of the company’s employees have left in recent months due to his public support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
“We’ve lost employees. I’m sure we’ll lose employees,” Karp said in an interview Wednesday with CNBC’s “Money Movers.” “If you have a position that does not cost you ever to lose an employee, it’s not a position.”
“From my perspective, it’s not just about Israel,” added Karp, who co-founded Palantir alongside venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale. “It’s like, ‘Do you believe in the West? Do you believe the West has created a superior way of living?’”
Palantir and Karp have been steadfast in their support of Israel since the Hamas attack, both publicly and technologically.
In January it announced that it had agreed a strategic partnership with the Israel Ministry of Defense to “supply Palantir technology to help the country’s war effort.”
The agreement followed a visit by Palantir executives to Israel, with the company holding its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv.
“I think so few people speak out because they believe they can skirt by with no opinion but there is no one who doesn’t have an opinion on Israel, especially if you are a big company,” said Karp in a conversation with legendary Israeli entrepreneur Yossi Vardi at Tel Aviv University. “There are a lot of people in the industry who are maybe not as pro-israel as I am but they think of Israel as a very special place and are generally more understanding of the Israeli position and view Israel’s accomplishments of building a nation from a desert.”
Palantir, which specializes in data analytics, is currently traded on the New York Stock Exchange with a market cap of over $55 billion.
