LOS ANGELES: Once again, violence broke out this week between an Arab and Israelis — this time at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Once again, the attack was labelled a “terrorist act” — this time by Israeli officials in describing how Egyptian-born Hashem Mohamed Hadayat killed two Israelis.

And once again, the American Muslim community shuddered, heaved a collective sigh and braced itself for yet another round of public scrutiny and suspicion.

“This is a terrible, horrible crime, but any action committed by an Arab or Muslim becomes viewed as collective guilt. That’s the problem,” said Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Center of suburban Orange County. “People don’t say he was a crazy person, they say he was a Muslim or Arab terrorist.”

Hussam Ayloush of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Disneyland- famed Anaheim said no other religious group was “put in a position where they have to prove their innocence because of the acts of few.”

“Before, the definition of terrorism was based on the action, not on the ethnicity of the attacker,” Ayloush added. “Now it seems the definition has shifted based on who’s doing it. This is outrageous and racist.”

Since the Sept 11 attacks, Ayloush said, his civil-rights organization has received 1,400 complaints of discrimination and harassment, ranging from murders to verbal abuse. That compares to the 200 to 300 cases previously reported annually.

He added that the vast majority of Americans have treated Muslims with “respect and understanding.”

Many Muslims are concerned, however, that the attack by Hadayat, an Orange County resident, will perpetuate the image that the American Islamic community is harbouring “sleeper terrorist cells.” That argument is gaining wider exposure in a slew of books and lectures by such controversial figures as Steven Emerson, an investigative journalist specializing in terrorism, and Daniel Pipes, editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

The two men frequently write and speak on the “dangers” of radical Islam, winning praise from some as fearless truth-tellers and condemnation from others as irresponsible fear-mongers. Emerson’s new book, “America Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us” is the No. 1 bestseller among Amazon.com’s 113 books on Jihad. The book, published in February, ranks 627 among all of Amazon.com’s listings — far higher than Southern California Muslim leader Maher Hathout’s “Jihad vs. Terrorism,” which ranks 1,027,965 and describes Jihad benevolently as an internal spiritual struggle.

All told, more than 20 new books have been released so far this year on the “Islamic menace,” according to Khaled Abou El Fadl, a UCLA professor of Islamic law.

“All of this is desensitizing people to hateful speech,” Abou El Fadl said. “With this constant drumbeat, people are emotionally and psychologically willing to believe all kinds of nasty things about Islam.” —Dawn/The LAT/WP News Service.