In September of 2024, Israel blew up boobie trapped pagers belonging to Hezbollah figures in public places in Lebanon, killing 12 people, including two children and two healthcare workers, and injuring 2,800.
The attack was followed by another attack using explosives in walkie-talkies that killed 25 people and injured another 600.
The Associated Press reported that the attacks “wounded many civilians” and that survivors are left “with missing eyes, faces laced with scars, hands with missing fingers”.
The United Nations at the time noted that the attacks “constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life” adding that, “Around 500 people suffered severe eye injuries, including a diplomat. Others suffered grave injuries to their faces, hands and bodies” and that “It is also a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians, including to intimidate or deter them from supporting an adversary, A climate of fear now pervades everyday life in Lebanon”.
At the time, when asked about the attacks, former CIA director Leon Panetta said, “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism”.
Now, a new book quietly reveals that Israel carried out the terrorist attack with the help of the AI surveillance firm Palantir, led by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel.
In the new biography of Palantir co-founder Alex Karp, “The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State,” by New York Times journalist Michael Steinberger, he writes that prior to the genocide in Gaza, “the Mossad had been using Palantir technology,” adding that the Shin Bet and IDF, “ sought to obtain Palantir’s software in the wake of Ocotber 7th”.
He goes on to write that, “The demand for Palantir’s assistance was so great that the company dispatched a a team of engineers from London to help get Israeli users online,” adding, “Palantir ended up having to rent a second-floor building that housed its Tel Aviv office, to accommodate the intelligence analysts who needed tutorials”.
Revealing what Israel used the AI-powered software for, Michael Steinberger notes, “Its software was used by the Israeli military in several raids in Gaza” and goes on to write that, “The company’s technology was deployed by the Israelis during military operations in Lebanon in 2024 that decimated Hezbollah’s top leadership” adding that, “It was also used in Operation Grim Beeper, in which hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were injured and maimed when their pagers and walkie-talkies exploded (the Israelis had booby trapped the devices)”.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory, occupied since 1967, documented Palantir’s role in the genocide in Gaza, noting, “In January 2024, Palantir announced a new strategic partnership with Israel and held a board meeting in Tel Aviv “in solidarity”; in April 2025, Palantir’s Chief Executive Officer responded to accusations that Palantir had killed Palestinians in Gaza by saying, ‘mostly terrorists, that’s true’. Both incidents are indicative of executive-level knowledge and purpose vis-à-vis the unlawful use of force by Israel, and failure to prevent such acts or withdraw involvement.”
Now it is revealed that the AI software was used in Israel’s terrorist attack in Lebanon as well.
In a recent interview, the former head of the Israeli Mossad, Yossi Cohen, revealed that Israel has similar “booby-trapped and spy-manipulated equipment” in “all the countries you can imagine”.
The fact that a company as influential as Palantir was involved in the terrorist attacks makes these comments even more concerning.
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