Well, the so-called “dean of the White House press corps” has announced her retirement — under extreme duress, it should be noted. It’s time.

Thomas was wrong to say such things about Israel, which has come under intense international criticism for seeking to protect a blockade against weapons being smuggled into Gaza that terrorists have used against the Israelis.

It’s been said in recent days that Thomas, a longtime United Press International White House correspondent who has been a columnist for Hearst Newspapers in recent years, may be suffering from some form of dementia. Why else would she say something so offensive?

My guess is that she’s alert, but that she’s gotten even more cantankerous. She long ago blurred the lines between commentator and objective reporter. As a reporter, she never should be allowed to reveal her own bias. And even though she’s been a columnist of late, she continued to sit in the White House briefing room — in her front-row seat — and pepper White House press aides with often-pointed questions.

Thomas’ recent intemperate remarks, of course, ignore history. Israel was created in 1948 by those who had fled the Holocaust. They had gone “home” to their ancestral origins.

And home is where they should remain.