Uber POLITICAL

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Uber described Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a “devastating war,” reported providing free border rides and transport of food and essential goods, and said riders had raised US$1.8 million through its in-app feature while Uber matched US$1 million at that point.¹

Uber subsequently announced a collaboration with the UN World Food Programme for Ukrainian aid delivery and stated that it donated US$250,000 to World Food Program USA’s Ukraine emergency response.²

No public evidence identified in a targeted search of Uber’s official global and regional newsroom results, the Israel-localised newsroom and blog, and identifiable official corporate social-channel search results from 7 October 2023 through 7 September 2026 of an Uber statement concerning Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, hostages, ceasefire, humanitarian relief, or civilian harm.^{3, 4, 5}

The Israel-localised newsroom displayed 377 items on retrieval, and its available 2023–24 archive entries concerned product, safety, sustainability, marketing, travel, and business matters rather than a conflict communication.^{3, 4}

The Israel-localised blog presents global product and engineering content; its availability does not establish either a current local service or a conflict-related statement.⁵

The official-social-channel finding is search-bounded rather than an exhaustive archival determination, because platform and search-index coverage may omit deleted, unindexed, local-language, or historical posts.^{3, 4, 5}

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre recorded a request for Uber’s response to Flytrex-related boycott criticism in September 2025 and recorded “Uber did not respond” on 13 October 2025; this documents non-response to that request, not Uber’s general communications posture.^{6, 7}

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Careem announced a Ramallah launch in June 2017 and stated plans to extend its service within Palestine, before Uber acquired Careem.⁸

Reporting from November 2017 stated that Careem suspended its Ramallah service at the Palestinian Authority’s request amid described operational disputes, and the reviewed material does not establish a later resumption.⁹

Uber completed its acquisition of Careem in January 2020, stating that Careem Networks FZ-LLC became a wholly owned subsidiary and that its mobility, delivery, and payments businesses would continue under the Careem brand.^{10, 11}

Uber’s FY2025 Form 10-K states that it continued to own Careem’s ridesharing business, while e& acquired a majority interest in non-ridesharing Careem Technologies in December 2023 and Uber retained approximately 42% and two board seats at that time.¹²

Uber’s Q2 2026 Form 10-Q states that its Careem Technologies interest was approximately 45% as of 30 June 2026 and that Uber obtained a controlling interest through an additional-equity purchase on 30 July 2026, while evaluating the transaction’s financial impact.¹³

A Tel Aviv District Court injunction required Uber to halt its UberDAY and UberNIGHT pilot services in November 2017, with Uber saying it would comply while seeking an accommodation with Israeli authorities.¹⁴

The 2017 injunction concerns Tel Aviv-area pilots and does not establish operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, Gaza, or settlements.¹⁴

A 2015 Knesset Research and Information Center report records correspondence from Yoni Greifman, identified as director general of “Uber Technologies Systems Israel Ltd.,” and Uber representations concerning efforts to advance ridesharing arrangements with Israel’s Ministry of Transportation; this is historical evidence of an entity styled that way and regulatory engagement, not evidence of its present registration or activity.¹⁵

Shomrim’s reporting on leaked 2014–17 Uber Files materials states that Uber officials sought then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support for entering Israel, that Travis Kalanick met Netanyahu at Davos in January 2016, and that the reported objectives included pressure on the transportation minister and prospective investment in Israel; the underlying leak materials were not independently retrieved for this audit.¹⁶

ICIJ independently summarized Uber Files reporting that Uber executives met Netanyahu and that Netanyahu publicly voiced support for Uber following his meeting with Kalanick.¹⁷

Ynet likewise reported from Uber Files materials that Kalanick met Netanyahu in connection with market-entry and regulatory efforts; this remains reporting on leaked records, rather than a retrieved primary Israeli government record.¹⁸

Shomrim further reported that Uber sought assistance from then-US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and then-Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer regarding an investigation into permitless operations, and reported a 2017 resolution involving a 112,000-shekel fine; these are reported leaked-record findings rather than independently retrieved primary court materials.¹⁹

Uber’s June 2023 statements, as reported by Mako and Globes, said it would suspend its Israeli taxi-ordering service effective 23 June 2023 and close its Tel Aviv driver-support centre, attributing the decision to concentration on major global markets.^{20, 21}

Reuters reporting republished by the Jerusalem Post likewise stated that Uber would exit Israel, citing insufficient market share.²²

A September 2025 report quoted an Uber spokesperson as saying the company had no plans to launch in Israel and reported that Uber had exited the Israeli market in June 2023.²³

Uber’s Israel-facing page states that Uber is currently unavailable in the user’s location, while its presence online does not itself establish active Israeli ride, delivery, or freight operations.²⁴

Uber maintains an Israel-specific legal-information page and Hebrew-language help centre, but those jurisdictional and support resources do not independently establish active services or operations in Israel or settlements.^{25, 26}

No public evidence identified in the reviewed live retrievals and supplied document pre-scan of Uber- or Careem-operated services in Israeli settlements, East Jerusalem, the occupied Golan Heights, or Gaza after Uber’s January 2020 acquisition.^{8, 9, 10}

No public evidence identified that Uber is named in the reviewed full-text OHCHR settlement-database materials, including specified 2023 and 2025 updates, or A/HRC/59/23; the supplied pre-scan also found no Uber mention in the enumerated Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Al-Haq, Who Profits, BDS, and PAX materials.²⁷ This is a document-scoped finding rather than evidence of database-wide absence.²⁷

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of Uber human-resources action, litigation, union disputes, platform-content moderation, algorithmic suppression, cartographic representation, or a regulatory inquiry specifically concerning Israel-Palestine.²⁸

No public evidence identified of Uber retail, supply-chain labelling, sourcing, or categorisation practices concerning settlement-origin products.²⁸

Uber’s Israel legal page is a jurisdiction-specific legal-information resource and does not itself document a policy concerning Israel-Palestine-related speech, content, or settlement-product sourcing.²⁵

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified of Uber using Israeli military heritage, state-security origins, or defence ties in corporate branding.²⁸

No public evidence identified of Uber holding Israeli state honours, formal non-commercial Israeli government or academic partnerships, or sponsorships of state-backed cultural or public-relations campaigns.²⁸

Uber’s FY2025 significant-subsidiaries exhibit contains no text match for “Israel,” while the earlier significant-subsidiaries exhibit lists major entities including Uber B.V., Uber International B.V., Uber MENA B.V., Portier, LLC, Rasier, LLC, and Uber Singapore Technology Pte. Ltd.^{29, 27}

The significant-subsidiaries exhibits are not complete global legal-entity registers and therefore do not establish the absence of every possible Israeli affiliate, registration, or operational arrangement; the 2015 Knesset report supplies historical evidence of an entity styled “Uber Technologies Systems Israel Ltd.” without resolving its current status.^{29, 27, 15}

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Uber announced a strategic partnership with Flytrex in September 2025 and characterized the transaction as its first investment in drone-delivery technology.³⁰

Uber stated that the anticipated initial Uber Eats drone-delivery pilots under the Flytrex partnership would be in the United States.³⁰

Associated Press reported that Flytrex is based in Tel Aviv, was already operating drone delivery in Texas and North Carolina, and that the amount of Uber’s investment was not disclosed.³¹

CTech reported that the investment was estimated at “tens of millions of dollars,” but this is a media estimate rather than an amount confirmed by Uber; Uber’s announcement and the AP report did not disclose the investment amount.^{31, 32}

Neither the Uber announcement nor the Associated Press report attributes military, IDF, Israeli-government, settlement, Gaza-conflict, surveillance, or defence use to the Flytrex partnership.^{30, 31}

No public evidence identified of an Uber or Flytrex defence, IDF, Ministry of Defence, settlement, surveillance, or military end-use contract in the reviewed materials.^{30, 31}

The Canadian BDS Coalition called for a boycott of Uber and Uber Eats in October 2025, expressly citing the Flytrex partnership.³³ Its further assertions concerning Flytrex founders, military backgrounds, dual-use technology, investors, and grants were not independently verified from primary military, corporate, grant, or procurement records and are not treated here as established facts.³³

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre documented boycott criticism of the Flytrex partnership, while identifying linked claims as allegations and disclaiming responsibility for their accuracy.^{6, 7}

No public evidence identified of Uber donations to the IDF, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, JNF/KKL, settlement organisations, reservist funds, or Israeli military-welfare bodies.²⁸

No public evidence identified of Uber providing conflict-period transport, logistics, free services, physical assets, or infrastructure to the IDF, Israeli government, settlements, or state-aligned organisations.²⁸

Uber’s federal separate segregated fund, committee C00907683, registered on 9 June 2025 and was listed by the FEC as an active qualified corporate PAC/lobbyist-registrant PAC; the FEC summary reported US$237,563.50 in receipts and US$66,000 in contributions to other committees for 1 January 2025 through 31 July 2026.³⁴ The reviewed FEC record does not identify Israel, Palestine, BDS, settlements, or a foreign-policy purpose.³⁴

A Q2 2026 Lobbying Disclosure Act filing by AxAdvocacy Government Relations listed Uber Technologies as client, reported US$50,000 in lobbying income, and identified H.R. 8870 and vicarious liability in surface-transportation reauthorisation; its foreign-entity field was marked none.³⁵ The filing does not document Israel/Palestine, boycott, settlement, or regional-policy lobbying.³⁵

Uber’s 2022 proxy stated that US corporate political contributions and trade-association memberships required prior Government Affairs Committee approval and internal oversight; the retrieved disclosure does not establish Israel/Palestine-related spending or confirm the policy’s current wording.³⁶

No verified Israel/Palestine-specific Uber lobbying disclosure, corporate PAC expenditure, anti-BDS intervention, or primary lobbying record was located in the bounded research.^{28, 34, 35}

The documented 2014–17 Israeli lobbying and government engagement concerned commercial market entry and transport regulation, not regional policy, settlements, or boycott legislation.^{14, 20, 21, 17, 16, 15, 19, 35}

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Uber Technologies, Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in San Francisco, and its 2025 Form 10-K describes proprietary technology applications across Mobility, Delivery, and Freight in more than 70 countries.¹²

Uber’s 2026 proxy states that the company has a single-class capital structure, neither dual-class stock nor a classified board, and no identified shareholder holding 10% or more of the company’s shares.²⁸

As of 2 March 2026, Uber’s proxy identified Vanguard, BlackRock, and Capital Research Global Investors as beneficial owners of more than 5% of the company’s shares.²⁸

Careem’s acquisition announcement does not identify a state-held ownership interest, golden share, or geopolitical mandate for Uber or Careem.^{10, 11}

No public evidence identified that Uber’s charter, founding documents, ownership structure, or controlling principals establish a primary mission tied to Israeli state geopolitical goals or infrastructure.^{12, 28}

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Uber’s 2026 proxy lists Ronald Sugar as independent chair and Dara Khosrowshahi as chief executive officer and director, alongside board nominees Revathi Advaithi, Turqi Alnowaiser, Nikesh Arora, Ursula Burns, Robert Eckert, Amanda Ginsberg, John Thain, and Alexander Wynaendts.²⁸

The proxy’s executive-officer section identifies Khosrowshahi, Andrew Macdonald, Balaji Krishnamurthy, Jill Hazelbaker, Nikki Krishnamurthy, and Tony West; its FY2025 named-executive-officer compensation disclosure lists Khosrowshahi, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, Hazelbaker, Macdonald, and West.²⁸ These are filing-specific disclosures and do not independently establish a dated officer-transition record.²⁸

Turqi Alnowaiser is identified in the proxy as Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments Division of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and as an Uber audit-committee director.²⁸

The proxy attributes 72,846,072 Uber shares, or 3.57%, to Alnowaiser principally through the Public Investment Fund.²⁸

Ronald Sugar previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman from 2003 to 2010, while the reviewed proxy does not identify that prior role as a current Uber state or defence-sector partnership.²⁸

Nikesh Arora has been an Uber director since May 2025 and is chair and chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks, while Dara Khosrowshahi serves on the boards of Expedia Group and Grab Holdings.²⁸

Kalanick resigned as Uber CEO in 2017 and left Uber’s board in 2019, and therefore holds no current Uber governance role reflected in the reviewed materials.^{17, 37}

A public IRS-derived filing identifies Ronald and Valerie Sugar as trustees of the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Family Foundation; its FY2024 Form 990-PF reports US$642,732 in charitable disbursements and US$3,963,282 in year-end net assets.³⁸ The retrieved public rendering did not expose a complete Part XV recipient schedule, so this audit cannot determine recipients or any Israel/Palestine, settlement, military-welfare, or advocacy relationship from that filing; it also contains no attribution to Uber.³⁸

No public evidence identified in bounded targeted searches of verified Israel/Palestine-related advocacy, donations, organisational roles, investment positions, foundation grants, campaign-finance activity, or public statements by Uber founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, Khosrowshahi, Sugar, the current named directors, current named executive officers, or disclosed institutional beneficial owners.^{28, 34, 35, 38}

A 29 October 2025 podcast featuring Khosrowshahi used “Israel/Palestine” in its title, but its publisher description discusses mobility, immigration, AI, and Khosrowshahi’s Iranian background without attributing an Israel/Palestine position, donation, or advocacy act to him; the title alone is not evidence of such conduct.³⁹

No verified principal act was identified from which a recipient, amount, recurrence, public reach, or relationship to military welfare, settlements, anti-BDS activity, or state advocacy can be documented.^{28, 34, 35, 38}

No public evidence identified that a named principal used Uber money, staff, platform, contractual relationships, or another vehicle acting in concert with Uber’s interests to support Israel/Palestine advocacy, military welfare, settlement activity, or anti-BDS activity.^{30, 28, 34, 35}

The historical 2014–17 government engagement occurred during Kalanick’s CEO tenure and concerned Uber’s commercial market-entry and taxi-regulation interests; it does not document settlements, military welfare, boycott legislation, or the present conflict, and no evidence was retrieved of its continuation after Kalanick’s 2019 board departure.^{5, 20, 21, 26, 17, 16, 15, 19, 18, 37}

Uber’s Flytrex announcement identifies Noam Bardin as Flytrex executive chairman and Sarfraz Maredia as Uber President of Autonomous Mobility and Delivery, without identifying either person as making a conflict-related political statement or donation.³⁰

These principal findings are search-bounded: no exhaustive principal-by-principal primary review of foundations, IRS filings, donor records, campaign-finance filings, or every possible organisational record was completed, so they do not establish the absence of private activity.^{28, 38}