Westminster launch of Islamophobia report attended by peer who warned of 'Zionist lobby'

“This landmark report brings about a working definition of Islamophobia for the first time, which will allow us to tackle this prejudice head-on.”

But the presence of Lord Ahmed at Tuesday’s event will raise questions. One leading source in the Jewish community told the JC Lord Ahmed’s previous record “spoke for itself.”

The life peer was suspended from the Labour Party in March 2013 after the Times reported that he had blamed his 2009 prison sentence – for sending text messages shortly before his car was involved in a fatal crash – on pressure placed on the courts by Jews ”who own newspapers and TV channels”.

The paper reported he told an Urdu-language broadcaster in Pakistan that the judge who jailed him for 12 weeks was appointed to the High Court after helping a ”Jewish colleague” of Tony Blair during an important case.

Lord Ahmed insisted he had “never been antisemitic” and had “unreservedly apologised” for any offence caused.

Lord Ahmed resigned from the party two months later, saying: “I do not recall when this interview was held and nor the person who carried out this interview... I reject the core story that emerges out of the alleged interview.”

In July 2013, Iranian media reported that Lord Ahmed blamed the “Zionist lobby” for the decision of international satellite providers to ban the broadcasts of several Iranian news outlets in the UK, including Press TV.

“Freedom of speech, and freedom of expression and freedom of media should be universal and it’s very unfortunate that the Zionist lobby does not like Press TV and many of the other outlets of Iran and that’s why, the pressure is so much that they need to be switched off,” Lord Ahmed was quoted as saying.

It has also been reported that, in 2005, he hosted a book launch in the House of Lords for Israel Shamir. At the meeting, Mr Shamir delivered a speech entitled “Jews and the Empire”.

It included observations such as: “All the [political] parties are Zionist-infiltrated,” and “Your newspapers belong to Zionists . . . Jews indeed own, control and edit a big share of mass media, this mainstay of Imperial thinking.”

Lord Ahmed claimed he interjected to say he did not agree with Mr Shamir as he spoke.

Lord Ahmed has been approached for comment about his attendance at Tuesday's event.

Mr Streeting told the JC he hoped the APPG's report "will not be lost on those who attended our event and readers of our report".

"Our report aims to break new ground in understanding and tacking Islamophobia. Our report, which proposes a new working definition of Islamophobia, drew inspiration from the IHRA definition on tacking antisemitism," he said.

"Though they manifest themselves in different ways, as I said at the launch, Islamophobia and antisemitism are different sides of the same coin. One cannot be a champion for equality without resolving to tackle all forms of prejudice."

Tuesday’s APPG cited research showing that Muslims are dicriminated against across employment, housing, education, the criminal justice system, social and public life and in political or media discourse.

Its report warned that Islamophobia also increased feeling of disengagement, disenfranchisement and disaffection with the state.

Ms Soubry said Islamophobia was a “very real problem” throughout the UK. 

“Muslims or people assumed to be Muslims are subjected to abuse, discrimination and criminal acts against them for no other reason than their faith or perceived faith,” she added. 

“It is equally obvious that overwhelmingly Islamophobia is rooted in racism and therefore is, racist. This definition recognises this truth and I hope it will now enable the serious work that needs to be done to tackle Islamophobia.”