Clinton Urges Tough Hate Crime Laws

President Clinton urged Congress on Thursday to pass a tougher hate crime law and a “common sense” gun control statute to demonstrate the nation’s revulsion at the anti-Semitism that motivated a bloody assault on a Granada Hills Jewish community center.

Clinton’s call for the country to “renew its commitment to our common community, our common humanity” won strong support from 29 leaders of national Jewish organizations who discussed the matter with him late Thursday in the Oval Office.

Some of the Jewish leaders said the administration’s proposals, although welcome, would not go far enough. And Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, speaking at an earlier news conference, jumped ahead of the White House by calling for serious consideration of mandatory licensing of all handguns.

The White House meeting, which lasted almost two hours, was closed to the press, but several of those in attendance discussed it afterward with reporters. The session was originally scheduled last month to deal with the Arab-Israeli peace process. Although that issue was also addressed, the focus changed abruptly after Tuesday’s violent events.

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the Jewish leaders thanked Clinton for his earlier efforts to focus on racially and ethnically motivated hate crimes. But Foxman said more must be done.

“It goes from tragedy to tragedy, from outrage to outrage, from crisis to crisis,” he said. “There needs to be continued, focused attention on hate. First, you have to get people’s attention to tell them that it is un-American and un-Christian.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, called the meeting productive. He said the Jewish leaders urged Clinton to “take the lead and use the bully pulpit of the presidency” to fight hate groups. He said that anger over the Granada Hills shooting “cannot be allowed to dissipate.”

Buford Oneal Furrow, the white supremacist who authorities said has confessed to the Granada Hills rampage, reportedly termed his actions “a wake-up call” to kill American Jews.

Jewish leaders at the White House agreed that the incident was a wake-up call, but said it should instead alert the nation to the danger of domestic terrorism and to the racism and anti-Semitism that continue to plague the country.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the American Hebrew Congregations, said Clinton assured the leaders at the meeting that the reemergence of extremist groups will be met by extreme actions by the government.

“The president made it very clear that he would do more, that nothing unites Americans or angers them more than this kind of extremism,” Yoffie said.

The Granada Hills attack was the third high-profile crime with anti-Jewish overtones in the past two months. It follows the Fourth of July weekend shooting of Orthodox Jews on their way home from synagogue in Chicago and the June 18 arson attack on three Sacramento-area synagogues.

In each instance, the white suspects also are accused of attacking others: African Americans, Asians and gays. Although there were no deaths among the Jewish victims, one Filipino, one African American, one Korean and two gay men were killed in the three incidents and another one that investigators have linked to the Sacramento arsons.

Foxman said the nation may be facing a new type of hate crime perpetrator: the “equal opportunity bigot” who draws on a wide range of hatred.

The Anti-Defamation League’s register of anti-Semitic crimes has shown a steady decline in recent years, Foxman said. But the recent spate of crimes “may be the beginning of a new pattern,” he said. “I hope not.”

Howard Berkowitz, national chairman of the organization, said hate crimes not only strike the individual victim but also instill fear in every member of the community. “Fear is a crime . . . as well,” he added.

Hoenlein said Clinton agreed to take the lead in persuading Americans to install a “hate filter” on their computers to block access to the thousands of Internet sites that “are bringing hate into people’s homes.”

In remarks to reporters before his meeting with Jewish leaders, Clinton called for legislation to impose more severe penalties for hate-motivated crimes. He also urged the House to go along with gun-control legislation passed earlier this summer by the Senate.

The gun control bill is being considered by a Senate-House conference committee trying to reconcile the Senate measure with a less far-reaching bill passed by the House.

Reno, in her comments to reporters, went even further.

“We must do more to keep dangerous firearms out of the hands of criminals, children and others who should not have them,” she said. “For four months, since the tragedy in Littleton, Colo., the administration and the Congress have debated over how to reform our gun laws . . . and yet we have not been able to pass gun safety measures that even most gun owners support.”

The first step, she said, is for the House to accept the Senate-passed gun legislation. And, she added, “I believe we must seriously explore the possibility of requiring the licensing of all handguns.”

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Times staff writers John Balz and Stephen Fuzesi contributed to this story.