(IsraelNN.com) Iraqi parliamentarians are weighing a lawsuit against Israel in which they would demand compensation for Israel's 1981 strike on the Osiraq nuclear reactor. Israel demolished the reactor to prevent the terror-supporting state from attaining nuclear weapons.

Iraqi MP Mohammed Naji Mahmoud is leading the push to sue. Iraq deserves “billions of dollars” in damages, Mahmoud has said.

The MPs hope to pass a bill that would require the Iraqi government to sue Israel for damages. However, the government must do so without recognizing the State of Israel as a legitimate entity, the MPs say.

The suit, if it is filed, will use the United Nations condemnation of the Israeli strike as proof that Israel unfairly caused Iraq financial losses.

Supporters of the initiative say it does not indicate support for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, whose regime built the Osiraq facility. Any money gained from the suit would be used to build the current state of Iraq.

The MPs' plan to sue may be linked to a lawsuit filed by former Iraqi Jews, who have sued for compensation for properties in Iraq that their families were forced to abandon when they were driven from the country by increasing Muslim violence following the establishment of the State of Israel. The Iraqi government claims that Iraqi Jews who left for Israel did so by choice.