In the unlikely event you haven’t already done so, go read Mark Steyn’s National Post piece, “Whatever you do, don’t call it a hate crime.” Here, I’ll even get you started:

Suppose it was Judy Garland’s birthday and I went to my local gay bathhouse and opened fire on the fetching young men handing out the towels. How many minutes would tick by before the word “homophobia” was heard?

Or suppose it was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and me and my semi-automatic swung by the abortion clinic …

Well, you get the idea. On the Fourth of July (hint) a guy went to the airport in Los Angeles, sauntered up to the ticket counter of El Al (hint) and fatally shot two people and wounded three. How many folks hearing the news on a quickie radio update honestly expected it to be anyone other than a Muslim male of Middle Eastern origin? Obviously, Underperformin’ Norman Mineta, the scrupulously sensitivity-trained U.S. Transportation Secretary, would have been wary of jumping to conclusions. Were he running the LAPD, he’d have pulled in a couple of elderly nuns and Kelli-Sue, a trainee hairdresser from Des Moines.

But, fortunately for the final death toll, El Al has its own security and so the suspect, after firing 10 rounds, was himself killed. And whaddaya know? He wasn’t an elderly nun but a 41-year-old Egyptian male! His name wasn’t Kellie-Sue, it was Hesham Mohamed Hadayet!

This stunning development seems to have completely disoriented the FBI. I quote from The New York Times headline: ‘Officials Puzzled About Motive Of Airport Gunman.’

Hmm. Egyptian Muslim kills Jews on American national holiday. Best not to jump to conclusions.

Damn right, best not to jump to conclusions. Could just as easily have been a Saudi Muslim or a Yemeni Muslim, for instance…

[Related: Jack Dunphy, “LAX Scene“; and Tom Gross, “LAX Attack: The View from Israel” — both from NRO.]

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