Palestinians would have the world believe that it was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza that prompted a thwarted attempt to run Israel’s blockade with aid-carrying vessels.

Not so, even though the Washington Post fell for this line.

Rather, the aim of the latest blockade-running ship was anti-Israel propaganda pure and simple. Also, it was built on a big lie that Gazans were in dire straits with Israel supposedly feeding their deprivation.

The alleged aid cargo was fiction, as noted by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who told the media that “there was no aid on board.” And Ya’alon got his information first-hand -- from his own commandos.

Too bad that the Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief, William Booth, didn’t get the message.

Here’s how he swallowed the fake humanitarian-assistance line in the second paragraph of his dispatch:  “The Swedish-registered Marianne of Gothenburg was attempting to enter Israeli-controlled waters in the Mediterranean Sea and deliver aid pacakages to Gaza. (“Protest ship bound for Gaza is diverted” June 30, page A7)

To further set the record straight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also stressed that, far from any need to run Israel’s blockade, genuine aid to Gaza can reach the enclave peacefully and without clashes on the high seas by simply supplying Gaza via Israel.  And that’s actually what’s been happening all along -- with 700 truckloads of supplies entering Gaza every day.

Too bad that Booth ignored this fact as well.

Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers