In "Palestinian proud of 'terrorist' label" (09/19/16), The Washington Post defends and gives explanations for Fathi Hammad, Hamas member, recently designated a terrorist by the U.S. State Department.  Perry Mason would have been proud.  The labeling of Hammad as terrorist is objected to by the Post, which becomes judge, jury, and defense lawyer.

According to the State Department, Hammad "coordinated terrorist cells."  The Post steps up to Hammad's defense by following up with "no evidence was presented."  Has there ever been a similar designation where the Post jumped to the terrorist's defense and basically objected?  Is it up to the State Department to prove its case to the Post?

The Post's loyalty to the Hamas member continued as the paper let him give a full paragraph's worth of typical propaganda implicating Israel as the cause of all the world's evil (such a surprise!) and doubling down by making Americans feel responsible for it: Americans give money to Israel, "which is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world."  If that wasn't enough support for the designee, the Post then explained what they believed he meant: "Hammad was referring specifically to the announcement last week that the United States was awarding Israel" the largest military aid package in U.S. history.  Thank you, Washington Post, for interpreting what the terrorist meant.

But that wasn't all that the defense team of Washington Post reporters Willam Booth and Hazem Balousha proffered.  They said the State Department designation for Hammad included "organizations such as al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hezbollah, the Taliban, the Jewish Kahane group, Algerian Salafists, the Islamic State, and Hamas, among others."  In fact, the State Department list does not mention the religion of any of the groups, especially the "Jewish Kahane group."  If the Post wanted to be consistent, why didn't they say the Muslim group al-Qaeda, the Muslim group Boko Haram, the Muslim group Hezb'allah, the Muslim group the Taliban, the Muslim group the Algerian Salafists, the Muslim group the Islamic State, and the Muslim group Hamas?

The inclusion of "Jewish" for the Kahane group reveals the darker, deeper bias at the Post.  It just slips out every so often and makes one more easily understand the Post's knee-jerk defense of this terrorist and the entire Palestinian movement.