Healthcare workers demand NHS end deal with tech firm linked to Israel war on Gaza

Hundreds of medical workers blockaded the entrance to NHS England’s headquarters in central London on Wednesday in opposition to the health service’s contract with a US firm that supplies the Israeli army with military surveillance technologies.

United under the banner ‘Health Workers for a Free Palestine’, protesters showed their opposition to the NHS’s ties to Palantir Technologies, whose contract with Israel is designed to increase the provision of advanced technology “in support of war-related missions.”

Palantir has previously used its AI technology to assist with drone strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan and the company introduced its Artificial Intelligence Platform, a decision-making system designed to evaluate enemy targets and recommend military strategies, last year.

Commenting on the new partnership, Palantir’s Executive Vice President Josh Harris stated that: “This strategic partnership aims to significantly aid the Israeli Ministry of Defence in addressing the current situation in Israel.”

Significantly, the company’s stance has led to internal discord, with reports emerging of employees leaving the company in protest over its involvement in Israel’s military actions, particularly those affecting Gaza. Despite this, CEO Alex Karp assured that he is “exceedingly proud” that Palantir is “involved in operationally crucial operations in Israel.”

Wednesday’s protest follows an earlier announcement by the Good Law Project about legal action it plans to take against NHS England, challenging the lack of transparency regarding its contract with Palantir. The Good Law Project stated that “Palantir is almost uniquely ill-equipped to hold that contract. It was established to help governments conduct law enforcement, warfare and policing. Its founder has said he believes the NHS makes people sick. This all makes Palantir, to put it mildly, a surprising choice of partner. The Government has a troubling history of giving contracts to its friends, in ways that even a bullied judiciary has been prepared to declare unlawful. The head of Palantir’s UK operation subsequently made a donation to a Conservative Minister.”

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The protest comes against a backdrop of escalating violence in Gaza, highlighted by the destruction of the Al-Shifa Hospital complex and the reported killing of 400 people, including health workers and patients, within its compound. These events have fuelled accusations that Israel is conducting a “war on hospitals,” a claim supported by the lack of independently verified evidence that Gaza’s medical facilities were being used for military purposes.

“After seeing the devastating images of Al-Shifa Hospital reduced to rubble, littered with dead and decaying bodies, and reading eyewitness accounts about health workers and patients being executed, I could not stand by while our NHS continues to support a war profiteer complicit in such crimes against humanity,” expressed Timesh, a respiratory doctor and British Medical Association (BMA) member taking part in the blockade.

Timesh continued: “I can’t stop thinking about the doctors, Yusra and Ahmad Al-Maqadmeh – the mother and son whose bodies were found ‘riddled with bullets’. Knowing they were gunned down for doing the same job as us, trying to save lives, and that our NHS is partnering with the company that is providing the technology being used by Israeli forces to carry out operations like these, makes me feel disgusted with NHS England.”

“The targeting of Gaza’s health workers is so systemic, many now say they hide their scrubs because wearing them puts a target on their back. How can the NHS possibly justify endorsing a war profiteer involved in the flattening of medical facilities and the murder of doctors, nurses, dentists, medical students and other health workers?” Timesh asked.

NHS workers maintain that Palantir’s support for the Israeli armed forces has likely contributed to the 804 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the deaths of medical personnel since 7 October, as per World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics.

“This likely includes the siege which has turned Al-Shifa Hospital into a mass graveyard,” added Harriet, one of the organisers of the blockade.

The controversy surrounding the NHS’s contract with Palantir extends beyond the company’s military affiliations. In November 2023, NHS England awarded a £330 million ($418 million) contract to Palantir, granting the company significant control over NHS data through the Federated Data Platform. This raised alarms over patient privacy, the outsourcing of NHS services and the ethical implications of partnering with a firm deeply involved in global warfare.

“The NHS is funded by the public to save lives, not to award contracts to companies which profit from mass murder. We will continue disrupting NHS England until they take NHS data out of Palantir’s bloodstained hands and bring management of this private data back in house,” affirmed Harriet.

As NHS England faces growing scrutiny over its ties to Palantir, the protest underscores a broader debate about the moral responsibilities of public institutions and the companies they choose to engage with.

NHS England did not respond to MEMO’s request for comment.

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