Technology developed by the US firm Palantir was deployed by the Israeli military during its attacks on Lebanon in 2024, including the infamous pager attack, which Israel has nicknamed “Operation Grim Beeper,” according to a new book.
The book, a biography of Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp, titled The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir and the Rise of the Surveillance State, was written by Michael Steinberger, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine.
Steinberger wrote that Palantir’s “technology was deployed by the Israelis during military operations in Lebanon in 2024 that decimated Hezbollah’s top leadership. 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).”
The initial pager attack was carried out on September 17, when thousands of beepers used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon and Syria. The following day, Israel detonated walkie-talkies, and some exploded at funerals for people who were killed in the initial attack.
According to numbers from the Lebanese government, the attacks killed around 40 people, including 12 civilians. Two children were killed by the explosions, and others were left injured or maimed. One of the victims, a nine-year-old girl named Fatima, was home with her father when his pager beeped, and she picked it up to bring it to him, but it exploded, mangling her face and killing her.
Steinberger’s book didn’t specify how Palantir’s technology aided in the attack. According to former Israeli intelligence officials, the attack was years in the making, and Israel tricked Hezbollah into purchasing thousands of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies from a fake company.
Steinberger’s book also said that people who worked at Palantir denied being involved in developing AI targeting systems for Gaza that were reported by the Israeli outlet 972 Magazine, but they detailed other ways the US company aided Israel in its genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged territory.
“Palantir was assisting Israel in other ways. Its software was used by the Israeli military in several raids in Gaza in which hostages were freed, and also helped facilitate the handover of detainees who were released by Hamas,” he wrote. The book also said that Palantir helped repel Iranian missile attacks via the US military’s Project Maven.
Earlier this year, Karp was confronted by a protester who said that Palantir’s AI technology “kills Palestinians” in Gaza, which he didn’t deny. “Mostly terrorists, that’s true,” he said in response.
