Protesters blockade office of tech giant with NHS contract over ties to Israel
Pro-Palestine protesters and health workers gathered at Palantir’s UK headquarters on Soho Square on Thursday, where they accused the firm of being “complicit” in war crimes.
The NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) will aim to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients.
It was announced earlier this year that a group led by Palantir had secured the £330 million contract to provide the new shared software system.
But concerns have been raised about how patient data will be used and Palantir’s involvement with the Israeli government which critics claim it provides intelligence services to.
Dozens of pro-Palestine protesters and health workers gathered at Palantir’s UK headquarters on Soho Square early on Thursday morning, where they accused the firm of being “complicit” in war crimes.
They held placards reading, “Palantir aids apartheid” and chanted, “Palantir – blood on your hands”.
The firm has been contacted by the PA news agency.
Alia Al Ghussain, a British human rights researcher whose uncle was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, claimed Palantir provides “predictive policing” to Israel.
The 32-year-old, who is of Palestinian descent, said: “Palantir provides intelligence and surveillance services to the Israeli military, including a form of predictive policing.
“That’s not just going to affect people in Gaza but those in the West Bank, which is under occupation and has seen a huge rise in violence since October 7.
“The NHS is probably the best thing about this country, it’s really an expression of our common humanity.
“Palantir is totally antithetical to that.
“I don’t think it has any place in the NHS.”
Jessica, a nurse and member of Health Workers for a Free Palestine, said: “It should be unthinkable for the NHS to do grubby deals with a company which is complicit in, and profiting from, Israel’s systematic destruction of healthcare facilities, resulting in the killing of more healthcare workers in the last ten weeks than the total number killed in all countries in conflict globally last year.
“The entire purpose of the NHS is the preservation of life. As health workers we cannot turn a blind eye to the health service being implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the slaughter of our colleagues – fellow nurses, doctors, dentists, medical students and other health workers – and their patients.
“We’re here to blockade and disrupt Palantir’s blood-soaked business, and we will continue mobilising until NHS England agrees to keep our NHS data out of bloodstained hands.”
Last month Steve Brine, chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee and a Tory MP, said there were “substantial concerns” about the company’s involvement with the NHS.
He called for “more transparency and better communication about what this platform will do and how their data will be used”.
Louis Mosley, Palantir’s executive vice-president for the UK and Europe, previously defended the company’s involvement in the NHS.
“Data security and the ability to precisely control who can see what information can be a matter of life and death,” he told the Times.
He said that the “software enables NHS professionals to bring together data that a hospital already holds in multiple different systems that haven’t historically been able to talk to each other, while ensuring that staff only see information if they need to, in order to do their job”.
Palantir was co-founded by billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who was an early backer of former US president Donald Trump, and has worked with the US government.
It will be supported by Accenture, PwC, NECS and Carnall Farrar on the NHS contract.
NHS England has said that “no company involved in the Federated Data Platform can access health and care data without the explicit permission of the NHS”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
