To be clear though, this distinction without a difference is precisely how institutions lie, how they set up plausible deniability, and how they end up supporting things like genocide for years.

So there really is no defense of it. Getting mired in the details when the purpose of the lie is clear is to support this kind of propaganda. There is no "Well achktuallly" that can be defended on Israel and the USs ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.