Britain's Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is to refer to police a newspaper article in which a television presenter made derogatory remarks about Arabs.
BBC presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk - a former MP - wrote a column for the right-leaning Sunday Expressnewspaper that questioned whether Arab nations had contributed anything to civilisation.
"What do [Arabs] think we feel about them," Kilroy -Silk wrote in the column headlined "We Owe Arabs Nothing". "That we admire them for being suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors?"
A BBC spokeswoman said Mr Kilroy-Silk (61) would face an investigation as to how his position as a freelance Sunday paper columnist fitted with his on-screen appearances.
Mr Trevor Phillips, chairman of the CRE, said the article was "indisputably stupid" but could incite hatred against Arabs.
"Our lawyers have considered the column and, in the light of widespread concern, we are referring the article to the police to consider whether it might constitute an offence under the Public Order Act," Phillips said on Thursday.
Mr Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said it was a vicious piece of work that contradicted all norms of responsible journalism and that he had lodged complaints with the BBC and the Press Complaints Commission.
"Silk appears unable (or unwilling) to distinguish between the terrorists who perpetrated the September 11 atrocities and the ordinary Arab peoples," he said in a letter to the BBC.
Mr Kilroy-Silk, who presents a daily chat show Kilroy, could not be reached for comment. The Sunday Expressdeclined to comment on the column.