No, Vice President Harris, this conflict didn’t begin on October 7

During last night’s presidential debate, Kamala Harris was asked to explain what she would do about Israel’s war on Gaza, and she said, “Let’s understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis.”

This is false.

As anyone with a basic working knowledge of the conflict knows, this war is the result of decades of brutal occupation and apartheid government imposed on the Palestinian people, paid for with U.S. dollars, and enforced with American bombs, guns, and bullets.

But there was no fact check at last night’s debate, not in real time or even in the hours of post-debate coverage.

The Intercept refuses to sweep aside decades of historical context and pretend the Israeli–Palestinian conflict started 11 months ago. And as a nonprofit news outlet, we rely on reader donations to continue correcting the deadly bipartisan consensus on Israel.

So if you value the independent journalism of The Intercept, please help us continue reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza by donating $5 today.

From the beginning, The Intercept has stood nearly alone among U.S. news outlets reporting on the war without actively concealing basic historical context.

Within days of October 7, we began to see news outlets including MSNBC, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the BBC sideline the few reporters in their newsrooms willing to challenge Israel policy.

The pro-Israel double standard was made even more explicit in an internal New York Times memo leaked to The Intercept earlier this year, which directed reporters to avoid factually accurate terms like “occupied territory,” “massacre,” “refugee camp,” and “genocide” when referring to Israel’s actions, while specifically recommending the word “terrorist” be used to describe those who attack Israeli civilians but not Palestinian civilians.

The U.S. corporate media’s ahistorical pro-Israel slant was on full display at last night’s debate as Harris was allowed to erase decades of brutal oppression without any pushback whatsoever from the assembled media.

This kind of systematic bias isn’t just misleading to readers. It powerfully shapes the policy debate in Washington and undercuts efforts to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the slaughter in Gaza and agree to a ceasefire that will bring Israeli hostages home.

That’s why the investigative reporting that The Intercept provides every day is so desperately needed right now — and why we’re asking our readers to help support The Intercept by making a donation today.

Will you donate $5 to help support the hard-hitting independent journalism of The Intercept?

STAND WITH THE INTERCEPT →