Israel is largely to blame for the civil war in Gaza—so says the editorial board at the left-wing Boston Globe. Gazans “long suffered from Israel’s suffocating occupation,” the Globe wrote on June 14, “and then from Ariel Sharon’s foolishly unilateral withdrawal in 2005, a move that allowed Hamas to bid for power with the misleading claim that its rockets and suicide bombings had driven Israeli soldiers and settlers out of Gaza.”

So Israel is to be blamed for the “suffocating occupation,” the foolish withdrawal and the vicious clash between Hamas and Fatah. As James Taranto noted at OpinionJournal.com, “The Globe denies that Palestinians are responsible for their own actions, and thereby dehumanizes them under a pretense of compassion” (June 14).

Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, the formation of a mini-Islamic state some commentators identify as Hamastan frightened some Palestinians so much they sought refuge in Israel. Next to a photo showing Arabs running to an Israeli border crossing, the AP wrote in its caption, “Palestinians run as they try to cross to the Israel side at the Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip.”

One can hardly blame them. Hamas gunmen were seen to escort several of their victims to the rooftops of tall buildings only to shove them off, shrieking and writhing as they plummeted to their deaths. Other victims were shot execution-style in the middle of streets as horrified family members looked on.

In the days following the Hamas takeover, according to Arutz Sheva, hundreds of Gazan residents amassed at Israel’s Erez Crossing in an attempt to enter Israel, “but were turned away” (June 17). Last week, Associated Press reported that hundreds of fleeing Palestinians were trapped in a tunnel at the crossing in an attempt to enter Israel.

Perhaps now the Globe can blame the oncoming humanitarian crisis on Israel’s refusal to allow hundreds of refugees to cross its borders.