Palantir: How a US spy-tech firm with links to Israel’s genocide infiltrated the British state
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Sat, 06/27/2026 - 16:20
MPs and advocacy groups warn UK government’s £670m worth of contracts with Palantir is an ‘unacceptable point of weakness’
Police officers patrol past the Palantir's booth during the World Economic Forum in Davos on 19 January 2026 (Ina Fassbender/AFP)
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Since 2020, Palantir, the controversial US data surveillance firm with links to Israeli abuses in occupied Palestine, has won over £670m in contracts with British civil and defence industries, raising both ethical and national-security concerns among politicians and campaigners.
Chief among those are a £330m contract with the NHS and a £240m deal with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), alongside a £15m contract related to Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
Despite a lack of transparency around the extent of Palantir’s deals in the UK’s public services, at least 34 contracts have been uncovered within sectors including the police, child social care, refugee schemes and the environment.
In January 2024, Palantir announced a partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence to deploy its technology in support of “war related missions” that use drone-fired missiles to target civilians in Gaza, including journalists and aid workers.
In April 2025, Palantir's chief executive Alex Karp responded to accusations that Palantir technology had enabled the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by saying “mostly terrorists, that’s true”.
A report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese suggested this indicates the firm had “executive-level knowledge and purpose vis-a-vis the unlawful use of force by Israel” in Palestine.
The Pentagon is reportedly investigating if Maven, the AI system run by Palantir to identify and target military victims, played a role in the US “double-tap” missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school in February which killed over 170 people, mainly children.
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager, told Middle East Eye that “Palantir’s software has been used to support Israel’s ongoing genocide and apartheid in occupied Gaza… a company profiting from human rights abuses should have no place in British public services, including in our NHS.
“The contracts should be terminated and replaced with providers that are not contributing to genocide, apartheid and other international crimes.”
Palantir is also controversial for its reactionary rhetoric.
In a 22-point manifesto published on social media detailing the company’s goals, Palantir drew criticism for broadcasting ethnic supremacy in writing “Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive” and “No other country in the history of the world has advanced progressive values more than [the US]”.
Another point read: “The question is not whether AI weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose.”
Partially funded by the CIA at its inception, Palantir was founded by right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who famously stated “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” and is known for his obsessive quest for the Antichrist who will usher in the end of the world.
Thiel is a major US Republican donor with a close relationship with Donald Trump, having thrown a celebration party for the president's 2024 inauguration at his DC home, attended by US Vice President JD Vance as well as Silicon Valley CEOs like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
A recent website leak exposed the invitation list to Thiel’s secret “Dialog” society retreats, including 200 of the world’s rich and powerful, which featured panels on cult-building, sex and prepping for World War III.
Mandelson and the MoD contract
An audio recording released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files revealed that it was the late financier and convicted sex offender who first introduced former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Thiel, advising Barak to “look at” Palantir in 2013.
The files also documented the close relationship between Epstein and the disgraced former British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, whose lobbying company, Global Counsel, counted Palantir among its clients.
Mandelson accompanied Starmer on a visit to Palantir’s Washington headquarters in February 2025.
No minutes from their meeting have been published, and the unredacted contracts are yet to be released, despite public pressure and multiple Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including from MEE, citing exemptions under defence and commercial interests.
A few months later, in December, the company entered a strategic partnership with Britain's MoD, pledging £1.5bn to “boost military AI” and develop a “kill chain” to “transform lethality on the battlefield”, and was awarded a £240m contract, without competition - three times more than a previous contract signed in 2022.
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When asked why the February 2025 Palantir briefing was not declared, Starmer said: “That was a routine meeting in the course of a visit I was on in the US”; meanwhile Mandelson called his Washington DC visit and the US-UK Technology Prosperity Deal containing the partnership with Palantir that followed "my personal pride and joy".
The Nerve investigative outlet revealed that Palantir also has a contract with AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, the agency underpinning Britain’s nuclear deterrence programme.
Rights groups have pointed out that the UK's use of Palantir is particularly problematic given the British government's support - particularly in intelligence matters - to Israel throughout its genocidal war in Gaza.
"The British government is already deeply complicit in the genocide in Gaza. In making public services dependent on Palantir's proprietary technology, successive UK governments will be less able to break free from this sordid company, and from its alignment with US foreign policy and militarism more broadly," Sam Perlo-Freedman, research coordinator at Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), told MEE.
"The willingness of the British government to embrace Palantir shows their prioritisation of the interests of the arms industry, and of corporate power more generally," he added.
An MoD spokesperson told MEE: “There are robust processes in place to ensure government contracts are awarded fairly and transparently, including for the direct award of contracts. Commercial decisions are a matter for individual departments made based on their individual needs.”
When asked about the company’s involvement in Gaza, Palantir referred MEE to a Channel 4 interview in which its UK CEO, Louis Mosley, said that none of Israel's military systems “publicly reported” to have provided targeting in Gaza used Palantir software - though he acknowledged that the company does supply software to the Israeli army.
NHS contract fears
Palantir faced heavy scrutiny for receiving a £330m contract with NHS England in 2023 to collate and centralise patient data, which is up for renewal in 2027.
Thiel has previously said that the NHS “makes people sick” and labelled British affection for the health system “Stockholm syndrome”.
In early June, MPs urged the government to trigger the 2027 break clause in the contract and develop an in-house replacement or seek an alternative UK provider.
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The cross-party Science, Innovation and Technology Committee report warned that the increasing reliance on Palantir in the UK’s public sector is an “unacceptable point of weakness” which could leave services potentially “at the mercy” of foreign actors.
Palantir long had its eye on the NHS’s world-renowned data set, but was able to finally secure this contract during Covid, when it offered a cash-strapped NHS a £1 deal.
The then-secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock, used special ministerial powers to bypass patient confidentiality rules and allow the company to process patient data.
A National Audit Office report noted the concerns of the government's chief commercial officer that the firm’s nominal-cost initial offer to gain a commercial foothold was contrary to public procurement principles requiring open competition.
Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at tech campaign group Foxglove, called this a “land and expand” strategy which allows Palantir to win further contracts down the line and increase their prices as reliance on their services grows - similar to a free-trial, subscription-based model.
“This might seem like a good deal, but with Big Tech there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Campbell told MEE.
The Financial Times recently reported that Samantha Jones, permanent secretary at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), was forced to apologise for breaching lobbying rules over failing to declare her consultancy contracts with a Palantir partner firm.
Palantir won its first contract with the NHS while Jones was both the lead non-executive director on the DHSC board, and advising Carnall Farrar, a healthcare consultancy, part of a consortium with Palantir.
The AI company also hired more than 30 senior government officials in what critics say poses an “acute corruption risk” in establishing a “revolving door” between the firm and the British state, including NHS England’s former head of AI who helped launch the first NHS project using Palantir’s product.
A DHSC spokesperson told MEE that the department’s permanent secretary "had no involvement" in selecting Palantir for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) and had already stepped away from all private‑sector roles before taking up her post.
On its website, NHS England says that Palantir won the FDP contract through a "rigorous, competitive" tender assessed against "clear criteria".
Mosley, Palantir’s UK CEO, accused critics of choosing “ideology over patient safety” in their criticisms of the deal, despite multiple NHS hospitals rejecting the technology on the grounds they would “lose functionality rather than gain it”.
However, Campbell added that ideology becomes important when Palantir openly aligns itself with the Trump administration’s desire for the US to secure “unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance”.
“Ultimately, if Palantir is embedded across our vital public services, and the UK’s defence and security, and one day Trump decides he wants to exert some pressure by threatening to pull the plug, who are they going to listen to?”
Palantir's work with ICE
Palantir’s role in the UK health sector has also raised concerns over the cross‑sector sharing of data.
In April 2025, Palantir signed a $30m contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose use of lethal force led to the fatal shootings of two American citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, as well as 17 deaths among detainees held in custody so far this year.
According to evidence uncovered by 404 Media, Palantir was working on a tool for ICE called "Elite", which uses data from the US Department of Health and Human Services and other sources to find people’s addresses for deportation.
The Doctors’ Association UK raised concerns around the sharing of data between Palantir’s NHS data system, Foundry, and Gotham, the Palantir software used for military operations.
Local government and police
Beyond the NHS, Palantir’s growing presence in other parts of the UK public sector has prompted further questions about its expanding role and the safeguards around its use of sensitive data.
Labour-run Coventry City Council renewed a £750,000 contract with Palantir in May to extend their original 12-month pilot scheme for work in the children’s services department, despite opposition from councillors and trade unions, who said it posed “serious ethical questions”.
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The contract allows Palantir to provide AI solutions to summarise social worker notes and enhance the systems for children with special needs.
A spokesperson for Coventry City Council told MEE the decision was made following a "comprehensive strategic review".
“Strong safeguards are in place," they said. "The Council is data controller and retains full control over all data. No data is shared with third parties or used to train AI models. AI supports staff but does not replace professional judgement - there is no automated decision-making about residents.”
The question of the financial burden that Palantir represents for local authorities is also raised.
The IT firm previously ran a Homes for Ukraine scheme, set up by the UK government in 2022 for those wanting to host refugees after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It did it for free for six months, before being awarded subsequent 12-month contracts rising from £4.5m to £5.5m year on year.
In May 2026, a government department said that millions of pounds were saved when Palantir’s IT system for the scheme was replaced with one built by its own experts.
As well as funnelling public money into private companies, Palantir is also a corporation which paid an effective tax rate of only 8 percent into the UK economy in 2024, compared to the standard rate of 25 percent for businesses with profits over £250,000, despite recording £25.3m in pre-tax profits.
Policing and surveillance
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan recently decided to block a £50m Metropolitan Police (Met) deal with Palantir in May, citing a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules.
Khan’s office said London’s police force risked becoming locked into Palantir’s technology, adding that the proposed deal had not “ensured or demonstrated value for money”. Before that, Khan had said he had “concerns about using public money to support firms who act contrary to London’s values”.
Khan has since backtracked on the decision, granting Palantir a 12-month pilot project with scope for extension after the company launched legal action against his veto.
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In 2025, Liberty Investigates revealed that Palantir’s contract with UK police in the East of England would develop a “surveillance network that will incorporate data about citizens’ political opinions, philosophical beliefs, health records, and other sensitive personal information”, including “trade union membership, sexual orientation and race”.
In 2024, Palantir signed a contract worth over £800,000 with Leicestershire Police to supply an “intelligence and investigation platform” in a deal made with the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, which was released in April by the Leicester Gazette after an FOI dispute.
Rupert Matthews, police and crime commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, told MEE he was satisfied that the procurement had been carried out properly, adding that Palantir is the Home Office’s sole authorised provider for the programme.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams also told MEE she welcomed the decision to let the Met continue using the system for another year, arguing it would help strengthen professional standards, tackle misconduct and bolster public confidence.
However, when The Good Law Project, a UK legal campaign group, reached out to all 45 police forces in the UK, three quarters refused to divulge if they had a contract with Palantir, raising concerns about transparency.
The Guardian reported in 2024 that the US spy tech firm had been in talks with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) about using its technology to predict the likelihood of prisoners’ “reoffending risks”, which Amnesty International warned could “lead to people being discriminated against, unfairly targeted and other miscarriages of justice”. The MoJ does not currently hold a contract with Palantir.
Palantir’s predictive policing project in Los Angeles was cancelled in 2019 after accusations that it entrenched racism and did not reduce crime.
“A world where all the governments want hyper surveillance is a world where Palantir is super profitable,” Duncan McCann, head of tech and data at The Good Law Project, told MEE.
McCann said that the concern is less that the company will sell our data, but rather that it will “enable the government to use the data”, which becomes particularly concerning when faced with the possibility of a Reform government that wants to roll out mass deportation programmes.
“Ultimately, surveillance works well with the new far right, and it works really well for Palantir, and that is why they seem such great bedfellows,” McCann said. This is also why, he added, it has evolved into a firm which is “turbocharging fascism and authoritarianism”.
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