One of America's largest Muslim advocacy groups described newly introduced legislation to the House of Representatives as "Nuremberg-Style legislation" for exclusively targeting Palestinians in the United States and abroad.

Nazi Germany's infamous "Nuremberg Laws" targeted the Jewish community in that country from 1935 to the end of World War II.

The proposed law, H.R. 5500, requires the US Attorney General to "establish an office in the Department of Justice to monitor acts of international terrorism allegedly committed by Palestinian individuals or individuals acting on behalf of Palestinian organizations."

The legislation titled "Justice for American Victims of Terrorism Act of 2000", now awaits vote in the House.

The bill's sponsors are known for promoting anti-Muslim propaganda and for being loyal backers of Israel's interests in the US government.

Rick Lazio (R-NY) is one of the co-sponsors. He gained a great deal of publicity when he took on the American Muslim community for their involvement in this year's senate race. Demanding that his opponent Hillary Clinton return $50,000 in donations, he used anti-Muslim bigotry by defaming and accusing Muslim organizations of fostering terrorism. In it's statement, The Council on American Islamic Relations described Lazio's political methods as "Islamophopic McCarthyism."

A second co-sponsor is Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who championed the Secret Evidence law, which disproportionately targets Arabs and Muslims for closed and secret deportation hearings within the INS. Weiner is also a dedicated supporter of the state of Israel. In a 1999 commentary, Weiner wrote, "It is time that the House of Representatives takes steps to demonstrate our loyalty to Israel."

Section 3 of the proposed bill described the mission to be carried by Department of Justice office as one that will "...collect information against individuals alleged to have committed acts of international terrorism...offer rewards for information on individuals alleged to have committed acts of international terrorism...including the dissemination of information related to such rewards in the Arabic-language media..."

Moreover, the Department of Justice is required to station an unspecified number of American officials in Israel and the Occupied Territories, including territories under the Palestinian Authority's jurisdiction. The purpose of the Middle East Israel-based office is to carry out similar missions as that of the Department of Justice main office.

CAIR is among one of the organizations protesting the legislation, saying that the bill's passage would be "governmental monitoring of non-violent criticism on Israel in this country".

The recently introduced act is one of several bills and actions that tackles issues related to Middle East politics, mostly targeting Palestinians.

The purpose of the bill, as described by Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler just one day before the most recent outbreak of violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories was, "to provide a clear message to Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority that they must not provoke a new cycle of violence or war in the Middle East by unilaterally declaring a state."

Since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, both the House and the Senate have adopted additional measures backing Israel, and blaming Arafat for the violence. In a letter sent to President Bill Clinton, 94 U.S. Senators signed a letter protesting the decision to veto U.N resolution 1322 which condemned the use of violence against Palestinians.