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Palantir\u2019s CEO has doubled down on his support for Israel, saying he\u2019s willing to lose staff if it means standing by his principles. <\/p>\n
Alex Karp<\/a>\u2014who leads the $55 billion software company<\/a> that builds platforms for big data analytics\u2014said if he didn\u2019t stand by his morals, his position in effect would be worthless. <\/p>\n The Israel-Gaza conflict is a subject which has divided<\/a> friends, families and businesses across the world<\/a>. Since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group stormed southern Israel killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 people hostage, tens of thousands of civilians have died. <\/p>\n According to a daily total by Al Jazeera<\/em><\/a>, the war has claimed the lives of more than 31,000 Palestinians, with more than 70,000 injured. In Israel at least 1,139 people have lost their lives with nearly 9,000 more reported as injured. <\/p>\n While governments including the U.S. and the United Kingdom supported the Israeli cause and condemned Hamas in the aftermath of the attacks, both governments<\/a> have since appealed for a cease-fire in the region<\/a>. <\/p>\n The war has also caused problems for companies, which have tried to navigate supporting both Israeli and Jewish colleagues as well as Palestinian staffers. While some businesses have been subject to boycott<\/a> over perceived support for one side or the other, Karp squarely placed his backing behind Israel. <\/p>\n Palantir, which is known for its work in defense and intelligence, has been supporting both Israel, and Ukraine in its war with Russia. Karp said his business\u2019s support for Israel isn\u2019t because of commercial interests, telling CNBC\u2019s Money Movers<\/em><\/a>: \u201cIsrael has historically bought our product, it\u2019s not a commercially relevant part of our business. <\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why a lot of people don\u2019t speak up publicly is we have a lot of other markets that are much bigger where maybe speaking up is controversial, like the U.S. and other markets. This\u2026 definitively was not an economic decision.\u201d<\/p>\n The Stanford Law graduate continued he believes there is a cultural precedent in America to speak up, but only when the issues are \u201cirrelevant, meaningless or somehow it\u2019s something you can say that you don\u2019t believe that won\u2019t get you in trouble and will allow you to sell products you may not believe in while pretending you have beliefs you don\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n The tech founder, worth $2.8 billion according to Forbes<\/em><\/a>, clearly didn\u2019t want to fall into this category he had outlined, adding: \u201cThat\u2019s not how we roll at Palantir.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Reuters<\/a>, Palantir\u2014which\u00a0received early support from the CIA\u2019s investment arm, In-Q-Tel<\/a>\u2014 had around 4,000 employees in 2022, with Karp saying some of those may have left on account of his support for Israel. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lost employees, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll lose employees,\u201d Karp maintained. \u201cIf you have a position that does not cost you to ever lose an employee, it\u2019s not a position. It\u2019s some kind of self-pleasuring where the joke is on the other person or the joke is on you.\u201d <\/p>\n He added: \u201cWhen you join Palantir and you dedicate your life to Palantir, I am standing in front of the company, the people that run Palantir are standing in front of the company, not promising you to tell you something you want to hear. We\u2019re going to get as close to telling you how we see the world as we\u2019re legally and ethically allowed to.\u201d<\/p>\n Karp added that by deploying his technology to certain causes he\u2019s demonstrating his beliefs to the world, explaining that he sees support for Israel as a small part in his belief of Western civilization: \u201cObviously the business world\u2019s complicated, you have to make choices.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a small issue. From my perspective it\u2019s not just about Israel it\u2019s like: \u2018Do you believe in the West? Do you believe the West has created a superior way of living?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Palantir\u2019s support of Israel has extended to holding its first board meeting of the year in Tel Aviv in January, and taking out a full-page advert in The New York Times<\/em> expressing its views. <\/p>\n $PLTR<\/a> Palantir has an ad at the Sunday New York Times showing their support for @Israel<\/a>.#NewYorkTimes<\/a> #IsraelFightsTerror<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aAnN4ys3FV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Niv Calderon (@nivcalderon) October 16, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Karp\u2014whose company is headquartered in Denver, and who has a home near the\u00a0White Mountains in Grafton County, New Hampshire<\/a>\u2014has never shied away from making his views and passions known. The CEO notoriously skis for five hours or more a day, meaning he has the same amount of body fat as 28-medal winning Olympian, Michael Phelps.<\/p>\n The former philosophy student\u2014who can reportedly solve a Rubik\u2019s cube in less than three minutes\u2014also has a cabinet in his office stocked with 20 identical pairs of swimming goggles<\/a>, and practices the meditative art of Qigong\u00a0every day. In the periods when he\u2019s practiced other martial arts like jujitsu and aikido, he was been known to put co-founders in \u201cholds\u201d while they walked through the office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nCorporate problems<\/h2>\n
\u2018The business world is complicated, you have to make choices\u2019<\/h2>\n
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