JD Vance's mentor co-founded company that helps Israel generate 'kill lists' of Palestinians in Gaza

The billionaire credited for grooming and supporting JD Vance, the current vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party, has invested millions of dollars in projects that facilitate Israel's occupation and its ongoing war on Gaza. 

Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist who introduced Vance to Silicon Valley more than a decade back and spent a record-breaking $15m to ensure he succeeded in becoming a senator in Ohio, is a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, the CIA-backed analytics firm currently playing a key role in Israel's war on Gaza. 

Thiel owns eight percent of Palantir, which is valued at around $69bn. 

On Wednesday, students at the San Francisco State University (SFSU) announced that administrators agreed to divest from Palantir Technologies, along with three other companies said to be profiting from the war in Gaza.

The developments come just a week after the company appointed avowed Israeli supporter Representative Mike Gallagher to run its defence business in what is being seen as an attempt to double down on contracts with the US defence sector.

Gallagher says he joined Palantir because he saw it as "an unapologetic company in its defense of the West, and its belief that America is a force for good in the world, and that America is worth defending against our enemies".

Palantir's Thiel was initially thrust into the national spotlight in July when Vance was announced as the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in July. But his links to Israel were only recently highlighted when a video of him fielding questions over the use of AI arms in Gaza went viral on social media.

The video from an event at Cambridge University back in May shows Thiel stumbling as he attempts to explain and defend his company's role as well as Israel's use of AI machinery to generate kill lists during the current war on Gaza.

Activists say while attention has been legitimately focused on the Democratic Party's continued support for Israel as it conducts one of the most devastating wars of the 21st century, focus on the ecosystem between Trump and right-leaning venture capitalists is quickly expanding in its wake.

Observers following the Israeli war on Gaza describe the prospect of right-wing venture capitalists collaborating with Christian nationalists under a Trump-led administration, many of whom see Israel as a bulwark for western civilisation, as a potent cocktail for the Middle East.

"Vance portrays himself as 'anti-war', but this is completely false," a spokesperson from the Southern Ohio Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), told MEE.

"Vance is a con man who works in the interests of Wall Street. He cheerleads unlimited military support to the apartheid state of Israel and its genocide against Palestinians," the spokesperson added.

The Thiel Foundation did not reply to MEE's request for comment.

What is Palantir?

In some circles, Palantir is referred to as the "scariest" of America's tech giants. Others describe it as "the AI arms dealer of the 21st century".

Founded in 2003, the Denver-based Palantir Technologies is a giant analytics company that provides data services to intelligence agencies, law enforcement and the US military.

Not only did it provide information to the US military during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but over the past 10 months in particular, Palantir has provided AI-powered military and surveillance technology support to the Israelis in its war on Gaza.

It has, in the words of Palantir's co-founder Alex Karp, been involved in "crucial operations in Israel".

'If I were talking about morality, or ethics or decency, I would say this is a very dangerous person who is using AI for genocide and for killing'

- Jonathan Kuttab, Fosna

Palantir says it offers defence technologies that are “mission-tested capabilities, forged in the field” to deliver “a tactical edge - by land, air, sea and space”. 

These capabilities include supplying Israel’s military and intelligence agencies with the data to fire missiles at specific targets in Gaza - be it inside homes or in moving vehicles.

One article characterised an agreement between Palantir and the Israeli defence ministry in January as "selling the ministry an Artificial Intelligence Platform that uses reams of classified intelligence reports to make life-or-death determinations about which targets to attack".

According to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Palantir is one of dozens of companies "profiting from the Gaza genocide". 

"In the US, Palantir also has multi-million dollar contracts with ICE, which uses its technology to aid in family separations and deportations - an issue closely intertwined with the occupation of Palestine," Max, a student activist at San Francisco State University said, referring to the Israeli surveillance technology used on both the southern border with Mexico as well as in the occupied West Bank.

Flynt said that given San Francisco and the greater Bay Area were hubs for AI tech, it was critical that universities divested "from companies like Palantir, which utilise AI technology formed in the Bay to surveil, identify and stalk Palestinians across Palestine", Max, who offered only his first name, added.

The company has also offered public support for Israel's war on Gaza.

In October 2023, Palantir took out a full-page ad in The New York Times, reading “Palantir stands with Israel”, and posted on X: “Certain kinds of evil can only be fought with force. Palantir stands with Israel.”

In January, as Israel's war on Gaza entered its third month, Palantir formulated a strategic partnership with the Israeli defence ministry to provide military technology for “war-related missions”.

It also held its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv, purportedly in solidarity with Israel.

Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian-American attorney specialising in international law, said the proximity between Thiel and the Republican Party was an ominous sign for Palestinians.

"If I were talking about morality, or ethics or decency, I would say this is a very dangerous person who is using AI for genocide and for killing," Kuttab told MEE.

"It has nothing to do with morality, to the contrary. It's anti-moral and anti-ethical and anti-decency," Kuttab said.

Palantir did not reply to MEE's request for comment.

What is relationship between Thiel and Vance?

Thiel first met Vance in 2011 during an interaction at the Yale Law School, after which Thiel became his mentor.

Following his graduation from Yale, it was on Thiel's recommendation that Vance was offered a job in 2013 at the biotechnology firm Circuit Therapeutics.

According to The New York Times, then-circuit chief executive Frederic Moll said Vance was hired because “he was a very smart guy with an impressive background in the law, but also it was a favour to Peter [Thiel]".

The experience ushered in Vance's introduction as a junior venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

In 2015, Vance joined another Thiel-led venture, Mithral, again on the venture capitalist's recommendation.

Five later, Vance launched his own venture, Narya Capital, in which Thiel and Google’s Eric Schmidt were key investors.

Thiel also reportedly joined Narya’s leadership advisory committee.

It was during this period that Vance helped form the Rockbridge Network that brought together a coalition of donors purportedly committed to reshaping conservative politics in America.

Thiel spoke at its first closed-door meeting in 2021.

Then, in 2021, Vance decided to run for the Senate and immediately secured a $15m donation from Thiel. At the time, it was the biggest amount donated to a single Senate candidate ever. 

Thiel is said to have donated more than $30m to Republicans over the 2022 mid-term election cycle. He also reportedly helped secure contributions for Vance from other tech entrepreneurs like David Sacks, who donated $1m.

"[Thiel] is the person who brought him into the Senate, who also, as I understand, facilitated his reconcilation with Trump," Kuttab said.

Observers note that the inclusion of Vance signals the Trump administration is likely to prioritise a pro-tech and pro-innovation approach to the economy as envisioned by Thiel. 

The connection between Trump and Silicon Valley has already prompted concerns over the extent to which the tech world has begun to congregate around the Trump ticket this November, a move that has not gone unnoticed by the Democrats.

At last week's Democratic National Convention (DNC), presidential nominee Kamala Harris promised to "provide access to capital for small-business owners and entrepreneurs and founders", in an apparent nod to venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

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When Trump announced Vance as his running mate in July, he would go on to describe Vance’s “very successful business career in Technology and Finance” as amongst his reasons for selecting him.

Vance has also received financial support from the Swiss-based multinational energy and commodity trading company, Vitol Inc. as well as the Blackstone Group, which has donated millions of dollars to Israel and also asked staff to donate to pro-Israel groups in Israel since the events of 7 October.

Public filings show the Swiss-based multinational energy and commodity trading company as Vance's sixth largest contributor to the senator.

Vitol Inc collaborated with Energean to facilitate Israel’s first crude oil export to Europe in February 2023.

But beyond the support from tech entrepreneurs, Vance enjoys the support of other right wing pro-Israel groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).

The RJC, known for opposing unconditional funding for Unrwa, opposing the Palestinian-led Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS), and opposing rejoining the UN Human Rights Council, released a statement lauding Vance's inclusion on the ticket. 

“We know Senator Vance will serve our country with distinction as Vice President as he has in the US Senate,” the RJC said.

“We also know Senator Vance will always stand with the Jewish community and with America’s key strategic ally Israel," it added.

According to filings, the RJC is the second biggest contributor to the Vance campaign, having donated $36,088 to him between 2019-2024.

Similarly, Vance has also enjoyed financial support from the law firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, which has a close relationship with the Israeli start-up ecosystem, too. 

Filings show that the firm is the 11th biggest contributor the the current Republican VP nominee.

Senator Vance did not reply to MEE's request for comment or clarity.

What is JD Vance's stance on Israel?

Vance has carefully curated an approach to foreign policy that hinges on an "America first" foreign policy.

In January 2023, in an opinions piece penned for The Wall Street Journal, Vance complimented Trump's foreign policy during his first term in office. 

Vance argued that he preferred the type of statesmanship that pursued the US national interest but with great restraint.

Vance said the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and US-led regime change in Libya, amongst other wars, had not served "the nation’s long-term interest".

"Very few were ever challenged by a leader of national significance," Vance argued, adding: "That is, of course, until Donald Trump came along."

While he has openly opposed US aid to Ukraine, even urging Europe to stop "using America as a crutch", he has expressed enthusiasm for continued US support to Israel. 

Vance also says that his support for Israel is predicated on his Christian faith.

In an interview in 2021, Vance told The Jewish Insider that he considered the Jewish community "an important part of our coalition on the right" and that his link to Israel had grown since his conversion to Catholicism.

“I hope it becomes a more important part of our coalition because I think that, frankly, the left has gone pretty crazy on a lot of issues that Jews care about," Vance said.

At the time, Vance hadn't yet travelled to Israel but attributed his connection with Israel to his conversion to Catholicism.

“Culturally, morally, politically, it is a real ally in the sense that we’re not just sort of sharing interests ... we’re actually sharing common values.”

In an address in May at the Quincy Institute, Vance doubled down on what he described as America's affection for Christianity as the driving force of a pro-Israel policy.

“A big part of the reason why Americans care about Israel is because we are still the largest Christian-majority country in the world, which means that a majority of citizens of this country think that their Saviour, and I count myself a Christian, was born and died and resurrected in that narrow little strip of territory on the Mediterranean," he said.

"The idea that there is ever going to be an American foreign policy that doesn’t care a lot about that slice of the world is preposterous," Vance added.

A spokesperson from Christians for a Free Palestine told MEE that Vance was no different from almost every representative of the US government when it came to complicity in the ongoing war on Palestinians in Gaza.

​​​​​​"He has advocated policies to suppress student protestors, and ruthlessly extracts needed resources from the communities he claims to represent while propping up corporate interests at the expense of the people," the spokesperson said.

Additional reporting and research by Violet Barron.