Palantir CEO says his outspoken pro-Israel views have caused employees to leave company

Palantir
CEO
Alex
Karp
said
some
staffers
at
his
software
company
have
exited
due
to
his
public
support
for
Israel.
And
he
expects
to
see
more
walk
out
the
door.

“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.”

Karp
was
responding
to
a
question
from
anchor
Sara
Eisen
about
personnel
turnover
at
the
company
resulting
from
its
controversial
stances.

Palantir,
known
for
its
government
contract
work
in
defense
and
intelligence,
has
provided
its
technology
to
support

the
Ukrainian
and
Israeli
militaries
in
their
respective
wars.
Israel
has
vowed
to
defeat
Hamas
following
the
Palestinian
militant
group’s
rampage
on
Oct.
7
in
southern
Israel
that
killed
nearly
1,200
people.
More
than
30,000
people
have
been
killed
in
Gaza
since
the
war
began,
according
to
the
Hamas-run
Health
Ministry
there.

Karp
said
on
Palantir’s

earnings
call
last
month
he
was
“exceedingly
proud
that
after
Oct.
7,
within
weeks,
we
are
on
the
ground
and
we
are
involved
in
operationally
crucial
operations
in
Israel.”

Palantir
held
its
first
board
meeting
of
the
year
in
Tel
Aviv,
Israel,
in
January,
after
which
the
company
agreed
to
a
“strategic
partnership”
with
the
Israeli
Ministry
of
Defense
to
supply
the
country
with
technology
for
its
military
efforts.
In
November,
Karp
asserted
the
company’s
support
of
the
U.S.
government
and
Israel,
declaring
on
an
earnings
call
that
“Palantir
only
supplies
its
products
to
Western
allies.”

In
Wednesday’s
interview,
Karp
reaffirmed
his
pro-Israel
views.
Eisen
referenced
the
company’s
decision
in
October
to
take
out
a
full-page
ad
in
The
New
York
Times,
stating
it
“stands
with
Israel.”

“We
have
a
precedent
in
this
culture
where
people
are
supposed
to
speak
up,”
Karp
said,
regarding
the
way
Palantir
operates.
He
said
that
in
his
communications
to
his
workforce,
he
doesn’t
promise
to
“tell
you
something
you
want
to
hear.”

“We’re
going
to
get
as
close
to
telling
you
how
we
see
the
world
as
we’re
legally
and
ethically
allowed
to,”
he
said.
“We
also
do
this
externally.”

Last
week,
Palantir
secured
a
$178.4
million
contract
with
the
U.S.
Army
to
develop
10
artificial
intelligence-powered
ground
stations,
part
of
a
project
called
Tactical
Intelligence
Targeting
Access
Node,
or
TITAN.

“From
my
perspective,
it’s
not
just
about
Israel,”
Karp,
who
co-founded
Palantir
alongside
conservative
venture
capitalists
Peter
Thiel
and
Joe
Lonsdale,
told
CNBC.
“It’s
like,
‘Do
you
believe
in
the
West?
Do
you
believe
the
West
has
created
a
superior
way
of
living?'”

Long
before
the
latest
crisis
in
Israel
and
Gaza,
Karp
has
been
vocal
on
controversial
social
and
political
issues,
and
has
attempted
to
show
a
clear
contrast
between
his
positions
and
the
views
more
commonly
held
by
people
in
San
Francisco
and
Silicon
Valley.

In
2020,
Palantir

relocated
its
headquarters
to
Denver
from
Palo
Alto,
California.
A
year
earlier,
Karp

told
CNBC
the
technology
community
had
breached
its
social
contract
with
America,
and
blasted
tech
companies
that
refuse
to
work
with
the
federal
government
to
keep
the
country
safe.

“That
is
a
loser
position,”
Karp
said
in
a
2019
interview
on
“Squawk
Box”
from
the
World
Economic
Forum
in
Davos,
Switzerland.
“It
is
not
intelligible.
It
is
not
intelligible
to
the
average
person.
It’s
academically
not
sustainable.
And
I
am
very
happy
we’re
not
on
that
side
of
the
debate.”

Clarification:
This
article
has
been
updated
to
clarify
that
more
than
30,000
people
have
been
killed
in
Gaza
since
the
war
began,
according
to
the
Hamas-run
Health
Ministry
there.