America is already on high alert: US authorities are monitoring domestic threats; security has been ramped up at Jewish centres and synagogues; and protests between opposing groups have erupted on city streets and university campuses across the country.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Americans have reported being frustrated by the rush to support Israel, and by the largely one-sided way the conflict has been covered by the US media.

Even Fox News, the Murdoch-owned right-wing cable network that regularly pounces on any missteps Biden makes, made little mention of his round table remarks, which were initially reported by the media, including this masthead, until they were clarified.

In any war, separating fact from fiction and propaganda can be extremely difficult, particularly when there’s so much false or misleading information online, which adds to the confusion – and anger – about what is actually happening on the ground.

One viral video, for instance, which purported to show a Hamas fighter shooting down an Israeli helicopter was actually taken from a video game called Arma 3.

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Fake accounts have surfaced on X (formerly known as Twitter), claiming to come from the Jerusalem Post newspaper and even a non-existent BBC reporter called “Verona Mark”, to spread false information.

And then there’s the usual political point-scoring: former president Donald Trump, for example, put up a post falsely claiming “American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden administration”.

Biden’s claims of “terrorists beheading children” stemmed from gruesome reports of atrocities committed at Kfar Aza kibbutz.

Nicole Zedek, a journalist with Israel’s i24 News, originally reported that up to 40 babies had been killed in the attack and some had been decapitated, according to Israeli soldiers with whom she had spoken. Hamas branded the allegations “false”.

Asked about the president’s remarks, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House took “very, very seriously the need to be as factual and certainly as truthful as we can possibly be”.

But he also said the public should not lose sight of the bigger picture: “The utter depravity and the barbaric nature with which these terrorists murdered and butchered innocent Israeli civilians.”

“And that further underscores why – and this is what the President’s specific point was – that we got to stay with Israel,” Kirby added. “We’ve got to continue to make sure they have the support that they need.”

The administration’s full-throated backing of Israel is hardly surprising given the parallels to the 9/11 terrorist attack and the fact that Americans are among those killed and believed to be taken hostage by Hamas.

But Biden’s relationship with Israel also dates back decades. He first visited the country as a young senator in 1973 and often tells the story of an hour-long gathering with then-prime minister Golda Meir, which he has described as “one of the most consequential meetings” he’s ever had.

And as a president whose life has been steeped in tragedy – his first wife Neilia and their 15-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash in 1972; his eldest son Beau died of cancer four decades later – the horrors of the Holocaust also resonate.

In fact, one of Biden’s most powerful moments during the round table meeting with Jewish leaders last week was when he recounted how he would bring each of his children to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany after they turned 14.

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“I wanted them to see!” he yelled, suddenly pounding the lectern in front of him as he shook with emotion. Some of the leaders in the room froze in response; others choked back tears.

The Israel-Hamas war now presents one of the most complicated geopolitical situations of Biden’s presidency.

It undercuts his campaign for normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, adds another unwanted war to his list of pre-election challenges, and deepens divisions in an already fiercely fractured America.

With so much at stake, adding to the disinformation and misinformation surrounding the conflict doesn’t help.