The British Middle East Eye website revealed that Kesher Faulkner, the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Britain, is leading a campaign against the adoption of a new definition approved by hundreds of Islamic organizations describing Islamophobia as a clear form of racism.
Faulkner, a member of the British House of Lords appointed by the British government last Tuesday and chair of the committee set up to defend equality and human rights, described public anti-Muslim sentiments as "understandable" due to their association with "violent religious extremism, terrorism and gangs of sexual seduction," according to the site.
The site pointed out that Baroness Faulkner, who describes herself as a secular Muslim, has hosted a number of parliamentary events on behalf of the Henry Jackson Society, a controversial neoconservative think tank accused of stoking anti-Muslim sentiments.
The new definition, proposed by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, states that "Islamophobia is a radical type and practice of racism, a major form of racism that targets Muslims' expressions or perceptions of them because of their religion." .
According to Los Street, Labor MP and head of the Parliamentary Group of Parties on British Muslims, the new definition of Islamophobia has been endorsed by 650 Islamic organizations, and has been widely adopted by the Labor Party, Liberal Democrats and other political parties, and a number of local councils and universities.
The Middle East Eye report indicated that Faulkner was at the forefront of opposing the efforts of members of the British Parliament and Muslim rights organizations to pressure the UK government and public bodies to adopt a widely accepted definition of Islamophobia.