You can’t help but wonder whether the New York Times editors read the news. They pronounce:

We agree that Israel had to defend itself against Hamas’s rocket attacks. But we fear the assault on Gaza has passed the point of diminishing returns. It is time for a cease-fire with Hamas and a return to the peace negotiations that are the only real hope for guaranteeing Israel’s long-term security.

They must have stumbled on that word “return.” When exactly were there peace negotiations with Hamas? Well, never. There is no peace with Hamas. There is only truce and war.

Now, of course, the Times editors rush to assure us Israel “is right to demand a permanent halt to Hamas’s rocket fire. Israel is also right not to rely on Hamas’s promises. Hamas used the last cease-fire to restock its arsenal with weapons ferried in through tunnels dug under the Egypt-Gaza border.” Hmm. That truce option may be tricky. But the Times has a solution. You guessed it:

President-elect Barack Obama says he will work for a peace deal from Day 1. We hope Israel picks a new leader in elections next month who is truly committed to a two-state solution. With the support of the new American president, he or she must make an early downpayment on peace by ending settlement construction, cooperating seriously with Mr. Abbas and improving the lives of all Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza.

And we have come full circle in the spinning circle of endless platitudes. The problem is that we just didn’t try hard enough for peace. That Israel had the wrong leaders. Israel is building settlements. If they stopped and everyone — except the Palestinians, of course — got more compliant leaders, we’d finally have peace. Why didn’t evacuation of Gaza bring peace? The Times editors never explain. Might the problem be that Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction? The Times editors would do well to read Hillary Clinton’s confirmation hearing testimony. She got it mostly right. Might it be that Iran sees endless benefit and little downside in egging on and arming its surrogates?

Logic is absent. Fantasy is omnipresent. These people are no realists.