Political Audit - Uber

Domain: Political - Political Entity scope: Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER), the global mobility and delivery platform, including wholly-owned subsidiaries Uber Eats and Careem (MENA/Pakistan ride-hailing unit); Aurora (recipient of the divested ATG autonomous-vehicle unit, 2021) is a separate company; its post-sale acts are attributed to Aurora, not to Uber. Compiled: 2026-06-26 Method: Live web search only

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Uber Technologies Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated technology platform, headquartered in San Francisco, California, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: UBER). Its stated mission is “to create opportunity through movement.”¹ The company operates across three primary segments: Mobility (ride-hailing), Delivery (Uber Eats), and Freight. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has led the company since 2017.

Careem is Uber’s wholly-owned MENA and Pakistan-facing ride-hailing subsidiary, acquired for USD 3.1 billion in January 2020.² Careem operates as a branded independent unit led by its own management in markets including the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and - historically - multiple Palestinian cities (see Operations section). The former Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), which developed autonomous-vehicle technology, was divested to Aurora Innovation in January 2021; its post-sale acts are attributed to Aurora, not to Uber. Uber’s full-year revenue was USD 43.98 billion in 2024, rising to USD 52.02 billion in 2025.³

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Dara Khosrowshahi - CEO. Born in Tehran in 1969, Khosrowshahi is an Iranian-American who left Iran as a child during the 1979 revolution, arriving in the United States as a refugee.⁴ He is a publicly stated advocate for refugees and immigrants: in 2021, Uber donated USD 1 million to support Afghan refugee resettlement through the International Rescue Committee and Women for Afghan Women.⁵

No public statements from Khosrowshahi specifically addressing the October 2023 Gaza war or expressing a position on the Israel-Palestine conflict were identified in live searches. His most relevant prior controversy on a proximate topic was in November 2019, when he described the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as “a mistake” in an interview - a statement he retracted within days.⁶ The episode is contextually significant because the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is one of Uber’s largest shareholders and the PIF chair sits on Uber’s board.

Bo Young Lee - former Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer. When Uber employees were divided over the 2021 Gaza escalation, Lee disclosed in October 2023 that Uber had not issued a political statement but instead organised educational sessions via its interfaith employee resource group.⁷

No board members or executives with documented personal affiliations to Israeli government, military, or intelligence bodies were identified in live searches.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Uber ride-hailing - Israel (history of exits and pending re-entry). Uber first entered Israel in a restricted, taxi-only model after a 2017 court order barred it from using unlicensed private drivers.⁸ It exited Israel entirely in 2019–2020 due to regulatory constraints and competitive pressure from Gett and Yango/Yandex.⁹ In July 2022 Uber relaunched a licensed-taxi hailing service in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, then exited again in June 2023, citing continuing regulatory uncertainty and limited market share.⁹

As of late 2025–early 2026, Uber has not resumed passenger operations in Israel. Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev approved Uber’s re-entry in September 2025 without a public consultation process, sparking legal threats from the taxi industry.¹⁰ The Knesset passed the enabling “Uber Law” in preliminary first reading on 27 March 2026; a second and third reading remain pending before the legislation becomes operative, and Uber itself has not committed to relaunching operations under the new framework.¹¹ No evidence of Uber ride-hailing operating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Israeli settlements was identified.

Uber Eats - Israel. Uber Eats exited Israel in 2019–2020 after failing to achieve a top-two market position.¹² As of mid-2026, Uber Eats has launched Hebrew-language web infrastructure and is recruiting delivery couriers in Israel, indicating active preparation for market re-entry, but is not yet operationally live.¹³ Uber Eats is not identified as operating in the West Bank or Gaza.

Careem - West Bank and Gaza (historical operations; current status unresolved). Careem - then an independent company, now Uber’s MENA subsidiary since January 2020 - launched in Ramallah in June 2017, becoming the first ride-hailing operator in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and subsequently expanded to Nablus and Gaza City in 2017–2018.¹⁴¹⁵ The Ramallah launch was suspended at the request of the Palestinian Authority in November 2017 over fare disputes, then resumed in March 2018 after Careem agreed to apply metered-taxi rates and operate exclusively with licensed drivers.¹⁶ No live sources confirm whether Careem has maintained or suspended its West Bank and Gaza operations following Uber’s January 2020 acquisition or the October 2023 Gaza war. The destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza since October 2023 makes continuation of a commercial ride-hailing service in Gaza City implausible, but no formal Careem suspension announcement was identified; the current status of Careem’s West Bank (Ramallah, Nablus) operations is unresolved - no public evidence identified confirming active or suspended status as of this audit.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

Saudi Public Investment Fund. The Saudi PIF is among Uber’s significant shareholders and the PIF chair sits on Uber’s board. This relationship drew scrutiny following the 2018 Khashoggi murder (see Executive section) but is not directly conflict-territory in scope.

Flytrex partnership - September 2025. On 18 September 2025, Uber announced its first drone-technology investment: a strategic partnership with Flytrex, an Israeli drone-delivery startup headquartered in Tel Aviv.¹⁷ Uber’s own press release characterised the investment as “not material” and did not disclose a figure; Israeli financial press reported it as “tens of millions of dollars.”¹⁸ The partnership integrates Flytrex’s autonomous drones into Uber Eats delivery in select US cities. Flytrex’s press materials identify no military or defence contracts; activist sources allege co-founder Yariv Bash has connections to Israel’s defence sector, but no corroborating primary-source documentation was identified in live searches. The partnership triggered a pro-Palestinian boycott campaign (see Lobbying section) and is examined further in the Military and Digital audits.

No evidence identified of Uber or Careem holding contracts with the Israeli Defence Forces, Israeli intelligence bodies, or Israeli settlement entities.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

US federal lobbying. Uber Technologies spent USD 2.62 million on US federal lobbying in 2024 and USD 3.38 million in 2025, according to OpenSecrets.¹⁹ Total political contributions (PAC and employee donations combined) in the 2024 election cycle were USD 1.13 million.¹⁹ No lobbying expenditures specifically directed at Israel-related legislation were identified.

Israel government lobbying - Uber Files (2022). A cache of internal Uber documents leaked in 2022 to The Guardian and distributed to 180 journalists revealed systematic lobbying of Israeli government officials during 2013–2017, when Uber sought to legalise its private-driver model. Key findings from the Israel-specific reporting by Israeli investigative outlet Shomrim:²⁰²¹

• At the January 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reportedly told Kalanick “we will break the resistance” in reference to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz’s opposition to Uber.
• Following the meeting, Netanyahu publicly clashed with Katz at a cabinet meeting on the issue.
• Eli Groner, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, advised Uber on messaging strategy and requested that communications be sent to his private email.
• Uber drafted its own proposed ride-hailing legislation and submitted it to the Knesset three times.²⁰

This lobbying campaign pre-dates Khosrowshahi’s tenure (he joined August 2017) and documents a historical pattern of high-level Israeli government engagement in support of Uber’s commercial interests.

Boycott campaigns.

• Pro-Palestinian boycott (2025): Following the Flytrex investment in September 2025, the Canadian BDS Coalition, Middle East Monitor, and activist organisations called for a boycott of Uber and Uber Eats.²² The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Uber to respond; Uber did not reply.²³
• Jewish/Israeli boycott (2024): Following the November 2024 Amsterdam attacks on Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans - in which some Uber drivers were alleged to have coordinated violence via external messaging apps - Yeshiva World News and other outlets called for a Jewish boycott of Uber.²⁴ Uber condemned the attacks as “abhorrent,” stated it was cooperating with Dutch law enforcement, and said no violence took place on any Uber trip and that its driver app cannot be used for inter-driver coordination.²⁵

ADCU driver log-off, October 2023. The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU), a UK union representing Uber drivers, organised a mass log-off to coincide with a Palestine solidarity march in London in October 2023.²⁶ The ADCU action was a union initiative, not a corporate Uber decision; Uber itself issued no parallel statement.

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

October 2023 Gaza war - no public corporate statement identified. Extensive live searches found no public statement from Uber Technologies or CEO Khosrowshahi specifically addressing the October 2023 Hamas attacks, the Israeli military response, or the subsequent conflict in Gaza. A 2023 Fortune article on corporate communication strategies cited Uber’s 2021 internal approach - educational sessions rather than a political stance - as a model.⁷

Fake Facebook post, October 2023 - PCRF. A Facebook post appeared on what looked like Uber’s official page in October 2023, claiming Uber had partnered with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Snopes and other fact-checkers confirmed the post was fraudulent, resulting from a compromised marketing-agency account. Uber stated: “This post was not authorized by Uber and was quickly removed,” attributing it to a compromised marketing-agency account used to fraudulently solicit donations.²⁷ No genuine Uber-PCRF partnership existed.

Palestinian restaurant categorisation - Uber Eats Canada, December 2023. In December 2023, Uber Eats Canada was found to be listing over 300 Middle Eastern restaurants in Greater Toronto - including Palestinian, Lebanese, Iraqi, and Afghan eateries - under the “Israeli cuisine” search category. Uber Eats Canada attributed the error to its “similar results” search algorithm combined with the absence of a Palestinian cuisine category.²⁸ Uber Eats apologised, corrected the behaviour, and committed to creating a Palestinian cuisine category; the category was made available on the platform by 14 January 2024.²⁹

Amsterdam attacks, November 2024. Uber issued a public statement calling the antisemitic violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam “abhorrent” and confirming cooperation with Dutch police.²⁵

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Community Guidelines. Uber’s published Community Guidelines prohibit discrimination and require all users to follow the law; the guidelines are the stated basis for account-deactivation decisions.³⁰ Board-level safety oversight covers Community Guidelines compliance, per Uber’s 2026 proxy statement.³¹

Uber Eats deactivation - Foodbenders, Toronto, July 2020. After a Toronto restaurant, Foodbenders, posted a “#ZionistsNotWelcome” hashtag on Instagram in July 2020, Uber Eats Canada terminated the restaurant’s delivery agreement following advocacy by B’nai Brith.³² DoorDash and Ritual made parallel deactivations. This deactivation predates the current conflict and was based on Uber Eats’ acceptable-use policies applied to a partner merchant.

Flytrex partnership - no internal opposition disclosed. No public reports of internal Uber employee protests, petitions, or resignations related to the Flytrex investment were identified.

Palestinian cuisine category - governance outcome. The creation of a Palestinian category on Uber Eats following the December 2023 Toronto controversy represents a content/retail policy change with direct bearing on Palestinian commercial visibility on the platform.²⁹

No evidence identified of Uber systematically removing, restricting, or discriminating against Palestinian users, drivers, or delivery partners in any policy-driven way.

End Notes