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Human rights groups denounced the initiative, including one Moroccan-based organization that called the bill “inhuman, anti-constitutional and antidemocratic” and suggested it was “influenced by Nazi tendencies.”            

The proposed law seeks to prohibit attendance at or support for any “activity in Morocco in which a natural or legal person holding Israeli citizenship or being resident of the Israeli entity contributes, participates, or attends.”

Earlier this month, four Moroccan lawmakers unexpectedly canceled their planned participation in a conference of regional parliamentarians in Jerusalem.

“The proposal suggests to punish any economical, political, cultural, artistic or other contact with Israel or Israelis in Israel or in Morocco with two to five years of imprisonment, a fine of approximately €10,000 to €100,000, and the possibility of the removal of the right to a pension, dismissal from work or the removal of Moroccan citizenship,” Moroccan human rights group Dialogus stated Tuesday.

Dialogus — which seeks to promote tolerance and fight discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism — said the bill “violates the letter and spirit of [Morocco’s] new Constitution of July 2011, which recognizes the plurality and openness of Moroccan society and the state, as stated in the preamble of the Constitution.”

The proposal not only violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “and all international covenants and treaties on Human Rights, but also exposes an inhuman approach influenced by Nazi tendencies,” the group said in a statement.

The bill was submitted jointly by five parties that together hold more than 70 percent of seats in the kingdom’s House of Representatives, including the prime minister’s Justice and Development Party and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces. It calls for the legal punishment of all Moroccan citizens and foreigners residing in Morocco in case of “any kind of cooperation or exchange with the Israeli entity… in any sector, political or economic or commercial or financial or cultural or athletic or artistic or tourist or press, and whether the parties of this cooperation or exchange are natural or legal, entities of public or private law… and whether the cooperation is direct or indirect.”

The International Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism, which is based in London and Berlin, condemned the bill. It pointed out, however, that it might never be signed into actual law.

“In many aspects of Moroccan politics, ‘the Palace’ still remains in power, especially when it comes to questions of foreign policy,” the institute’s Kim Robin Stoller wrote in an article Wednesday. “So there is a chance that the proposal might not be discussed or voted upon in the parliament — especially if there is enough internal and international opposition to it.”

Despite the absence of official diplomatic relations between Rabat and Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis visit Morocco every year, mostly tourists and businesspeople but also politicians participating in international conferences.

However, “Morocco’s world standing as a relatively tolerant country might change for the worse, if the law proposed by the majority of Moroccan parliamentarian groups passes,” Stoller warned. “Many observers see this as a bad omen for Moroccan democratic development and relations with Western countries as well as with its own minority groups.”

Earlier in November, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, a regional forum with observer status at the United Nations, conducted a high-level visit to the Middle East to discuss current peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Four Moroccan lawmakers were scheduled to travel to Israel for meetings in the Knesset but canceled at the last moment. According to Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, PAM President Francesco Amoruso said the Moroccans decided to bow out after receiving “harsh criticism from the media” in their home country.

“I regret the non-appearance of the MPs from Morocco. We made great efforts to enable them to enter Israel and were expecting their arrival,” Edelstein said. “Our door is always open to anyone, and we will happily continue to host discussions about cooperation between the countries of the region, for the future of our children and grandchildren.”

The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, is currently visiting the United States, where he is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.