An apartment in Gaza, an artillery battery in Ukraine, and an ordinary apartment block in Minnesota… They are all listed side by side under the “target” category of the same decision support interface, on the same screen. In this situation, the main question becomes this: Who decides these targets? The military or the law enforcement bureaucracy in the field, or the algorithmic reason that is embedded into the lines of code, working unseen?
The Palantir case that stretches from Palestine to Ukraine and to the United States of America (USA or US) essentially exhibits that the new “private-sector-centered imperial security complex” has been institutionalized silently and deeply. The ongoing genocide in Gaza has become the most striking laboratory where Palantir’s functional reality is visible.[i] Various recent reports discuss in detail that the data pools produced by institutions like the NSA and Unit 8200 are integrated with the AI-based targeting infrastructure provided to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In this way, tens of thousands of Palestinians can be reduced to the “statistical target” category.[ii]
It is emphasized that Palestine has become a “AI-supported war laboratory” for the US-based tech companies, including Palantir, and that every aerial strike is also a testing ground for the algorithmic models.[iii] On the other hand, the consequences of the tools provided by Palantir to Israel raise the debate of contributing to war crimes on an institutional scale.
This picture grounds the abstract “double standard” criticism of Ankara in concrete, practical terms. While on one hand, there is a destruction in process where tens of thousands of civilians lose their lives, these losses are neutralized with technical terms such as “collateral damage” and “complex operational environment” in Western Capitals on the other hand.
At the same time, it’s been seen that the political and intellectual spheres that defend human rights vehemently in the US and Europe are providing both financial and political protection to companies that provide critical software and data-processing infrastructure for this war structure. On the Ukrainian front, however, Palantir is placed as the “technological actor which supports the democratic resistance” in the Western media. CEO Alex Karp openly states that the software developed for the Ukrainian front “reduces the targeting cycle to minutes,” and many targets in the field are determined by these systems.[iv]
With tools such as Meta Constellation, satellite imagery, field reports, and open-source intelligence, processing is done in near real time. This situation means a quicker detection and annihilation of Russian units, artillery emplacements, and logistical routes. However, when the connection of the same technological structure with the destroyed civilian settlements is raised, there is an evident silence and avoidance in the Western discourse environment.
The Palantir case is no longer just a matter of foreign fronts; it now takes on a new dimension in the USA’s interior, especially in immigration enforcement and internal security. Documents that surfaced during January show that the application ELITE developed for ICE combines various social welfare and public databases, especially Medicaid, and marks immigrant towns in different states, including Minnesota, as “priority targets for raids[v]
According to examinations, the app shows addresses with “high potential for detainment” to the ICE agents, down to the street names and building numbers. These addresses sometimes indicate individuals, sometimes tens of people who can be detained at the same time. This way, the algorithmic reason that reduces the apartment blocks in Gaza to numerical risk categories is also becoming the internal security practice that encodes immigrant families as “data sets” in Minnesota.
Tools such as Palantir taking up critical roles in the USA’s oppression mechanisms against immigrants, Muslim communities, and black people, take away the credibility of Washington’s “democracy and freedom.” From a broader perspective, Palantir is a symbolic example of this new era, in which war and internal security are being redefined by private tech companies. The NATO alliance, defense contracts, and the rhetoric of “mutual threat” are functioning as an ideological and institutional base for these companies to increase their market share. In the company’s 2025 Q2 shareholder letters, active combat zones such as Gaza and Ukraine, and the profits from immigration and police operations are described as “the center elements of the AI-based growth story. In this way, human life and security are reduced to priced variables in the global capital markets.
[i] “Palantir Allegedly Enables Israel’s AI Targeting amid Israel’s War in Gaza, Raising Serious Human Rights Concerns”, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 11 April 2024. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/palantir-allegedly-enables-israels-ai-targeting-amid-israels-war-in-gaza-raising-serious-human-rights-concerns/, (Date Accessed: 19.01.2026).
[ii] “AI for War: Big Tech Empowering Israel’s Crimes and Occupation.” Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/ai-for-war-big-tech-empowering-israels-crimes-and-occupation/, (Date Accessed: 19.01.2026).
[iii] “AP Exposes Big Tech AI Systems’ Direct Role in Warfare amid Israel’s War in Gaza”, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 17 Şubat 2025, https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/ap-exposes-big-tech-ai-systems-direct-role-in-warfare-amid-israels-war-in-gaza/, (Date Accessed: 19.01.2026).
[iv] “Software on the Front Line: How Palantir Is Aiding Ukraine in Its War with Russia.” IndepthNews (IDN). 31 Temmuz 2025. https://indepthnews.net/software-on-the-front-line-how-palantir-is-aiding-ukraine-in-its-war-with-russia/, (Date Accessed: 19.01.2026).
[v] “Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds on Medicaid Data.” Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). 14 Ocak 2026. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/report-ice-using-palantir-tool-feeds-medicaid-data, (Date Accessed: 19.01.2026).
