Islam, Muslims and the left by Seumas Milne

This is an excellent article by The Guardian's. Seumas Milne on 16/12/2004. Milne here perhaps places too much emphasis on the liberating capabilities of religious belief but I do agree with his position on the thrust of proposed legislation to protect confessional identity groups. I am not sure that new legislation is required for this though. The Race Relations Act has been extended to protect Jews and Sikhs and there is no reason that I know of as to why it can't be extended to protect Muslims as well. Right now the Zionist movement is trying to have it made illegal to question Israel's right to exist, to compare Israel to a nazi state and to call Israel an apartheid state. This means that while many Zionists pour scorn on the idea of religious protection, an ideology (Zionism) that has been implemented via colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and Jim Crow style segregation gets protection. Is that justice?