Israel, from preemptive war to predictive action, algorithms decide life or death
Israel: From premptive War to Predictive Action — Algorithms Can Decide Life or Death
In modern warfare, drones have firmly established their place. One chapter has been written; another is about to be, here and now. In this “new age warfare,” in anti-crime and counterterrorism efforts, and in predictive detection, the lines are shifting.
A recent partner of Israel, Palantir, has become a global player by using data analysis as a weapon of influence and decision-making — reputed to be the largest surveillance company in the world. Present everywhere, visible nowhere.
Who is Palantir?
Palantir sits at the crossroads of technology, geopolitics, and ethics — as visible as it is elusive.
It’s not just another startup. It was born in the CIA’s orbit, through its venture capital arm In-Q-Tel. Its mission from day one was precise: to “see through data” — big data — and more.
Unlike the tech giants that monetize the data they collect, Palantir sells extremely powerful big data analytics platforms to governments (more than 139 listed) and major corporations.
Its three core products:
• Foundry — designed for the industrial and civilian sectors, allowing an entire organization to connect, clean, visualize, and model its data.
• Apollo — a software deployment engine enabling Palantir to update its platforms in real time, even in highly sensitive environments.
• Gotham — built for security agencies and armed forces, capable of cross-referencing billions of data points (cyber, field, radar, human intelligence) to identify threats, plan missions, and map networks.
Palantir markets itself as a “strategic brain” capable of transforming informational chaos into clear decisions. In Gotham, every event, every person, every GPS coordinate becomes a node on a living web. The goal: to give military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies a complete, synthesized view of complex situations, often under extreme conditions.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the system was used to identify terrorist networks, predict their movements, or trigger targeted raids. In police anti-crime operations, it has been used to reconstruct contact chains, analyze recordings, and detect patterns invisible to the human eye.
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The pros and cons
Such capabilities raise significant issues as we enter the age of artificial intelligence — increasingly replacing human judgment across various sectors. Predictive identification in particular has triggered widespread suspicion and pushback against opacity.
Among Palantir’s users:
• United States: Government, numerous agencies, law enforcement, armed forces, and more.
• European Union: Europol, for counterterrorism and organized crime, via member states.
• United Kingdom: Ministry of Defense and the National Health Service.
• Norway: Customs control since 2018.
• Denmark: Predictive policing project POL INTEL since 2017, heavily criticized.
• Spain: Ministry of Defense.
• Lithuania: Various ministries.
• Ukraine: Primarily military applications — screening, war crimes detection, decision-making in conflict zones.
• Switzerland: Private-sector use in banking.
• Germany: Three states — Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and North Rhine–Westphalia — have adopted Palantir; Hesse is reportedly also using it.
Civil liberties groups such as the Society for Civil Rights (GFF) warn of a high risk of dragnet surveillance — anyone could be targeted, even without suspicion, “a victim of a crime or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) adds that this creates dangerous dependency on opaque software.
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Loyalists vs. pragmatists
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) is keeping his options open, advocating for Palantir’s expansion at the federal level (Federal Police and BKA intelligence service), breaking with his predecessor’s decision to halt the initiative in 2023.
Ongoing constitutional challenges
GFF has filed a constitutional complaint against Palantir’s use in Bavaria, citing violations of fundamental rights such as informational self-determination and communication privacy. The move has received massive public support: over 264,000 signatures in one week as of late July 2025. A similar case against North Rhine–Westphalia is still pending before the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.
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France
The DGSI has been in contact with Palantir since 2016, but aims to develop a French — or at least European — alternative for full sovereignty. A French replacement tool could be operational by 2027.
ChampsVision, a French startup founded in 2019, positions itself as such an alternative after winning the Phase 1 contract, potentially evolving into a national or even EU-wide sovereign solution. In 2021, Palantir partnered with Station F, giving startups access to its Foundry for Builders platform, expanding opportunities in AI, data, and innovation. Palantir also works with more than 40 major French companies (banking, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, etc.).
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Israel
Official relations date back to 2023, but ties have tightened since a January 2024 agreement. Israel is an ideal partner for Palantir — given its defense environment, border control, counterterrorism efforts, and organized crime challenges, along with its ongoing conflict with Hamas.
This collaboration allows real-world, in-the-field testing. A 2021 office opening signaled Palantir’s commitment to deepening ties with the “startup nation” in all sectors, especially cybersecurity, drones, and AI.
Recent conflicts have often shifted from preventive to predictive approaches — enabling the anticipation of many threats, though this was clearly not the case in October 2023, which may explain the latest tech developments.
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Concerns over civil liberties
In Germany, the system has already sparked controversy. Law enforcement sees it as an answer to many pressing security and predictive detection challenges. Science fiction seems to be becoming reality.
Facial recognition
Advocacy groups argue that unlimited data analysis violates the right to informational self-determination and telecommunications privacy. In Bavaria, current laws allow data mining even in the absence of danger. Complaints have been filed with the Federal Constitutional Court.
Still, given the rise in organized crime and the vast resources of global narcotrafficking networks, authorities are unlikely to abandon a tool that addresses current threats — especially without an EU-scale alternative.
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Hate speech detection on social media
During the September 2024 attack on the Israeli consulate in Munich, Deputy Police Chief Alexander Poltz explained how automated data analysis helped anticipate and identify the movements of certain individuals, giving authorities predictive insight into their actions — exactly what agencies seek in the fight against organized crime.
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Security and border control
Germany, France, and other EU countries have recognized that “digital policy is power politics” — and that relying on foreign technologies (here, the US) creates long-term dependency. The EU must develop its own capabilities to assert sovereignty and act as a major power on the world stage.
Unfortunately, the current structure of the EU and disagreements among its 27 decision-makers greatly slow down such projects.
Thus goes the world.
