UNITED AGAINST HATE; VALLEY RESIDENTS JOIN RALLY TO COMBAT VIOLENCE.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Standing together against the forces of hatred and intolerance, Attorney General Janet Reno, Gov. Gray Davis and a host of political and religious leaders on Sunday denounced racial and ethnic hatred and demanded stricter gun control laws.

``We must confront hate,'' Reno said. ``We must not back down. We must speak out against hatred and prejudice everywhere we find them.''

Some 2,000 people flocked to California State University, Northridge, for the Unity Rally, organized by local Jewish groups to honor the five victims shot Tuesday at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and the mail carrier who died of multiple gunshot wounds in Chatsworth only a short time later.

Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr., a neo-Nazi from Washington state, has been charged with the shootings and could face the death penalty if convicted. According to authorities, Furrow admitted to targeting the JCC as a ``wake-up call'' for Americans to start killing Jews, and said he murdered Filipino-American mail carrier Joseph Santos Ileto because he was not white and he was a federal employee.

The rally also saluted the heroes of the shootings: the paramedics, police officers, camp counselors and others who offered medical assistance and psychological support to those traumatized by the events.

``Their quick and brave behavior saved lives,'' said Nancy Parris Moskowitz, president of the North Valley JCC.

A ``unity garden'' will be planted at the center to honor both victims and heroes, she added.

Davis, who signed a strict anti-assault weapons law last month, said he would continue to work for even tougher gun-control measures. As a Vietnam veteran, he said, he has seen firsthand the damage assault weapons can cause.

``They have a place in the theater of war. They have no place in a civilized society,'' Davis said.

He also said he is asking local and state law enforcement agencies to help community centers beef up their security and that financial assistance will be made available to those centers. He added that tolerance has to be taught to children as a tenet of society, as important as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Davis and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan raised their voices over the shouts of a few Jewish militants who believe violence should be met with force - not a message of unity and peace.

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said it was more than just the availability of guns or the fact that Furrow once tried to commit himself to a mental hospital that created the seeds of the attack.

``Buford Furrow was a hater before he even took a pill, and he was a bigot before he even saw his first gun,'' Hier said.

The government of Israel, through its acting consul general Uri Palti, sent condolences to the Ileto family and the five JCC victims, and thanked the city for its strong response to the incident.

``On behalf of the state of Israel and the people of Israel, today our hearts beat as one with you,'' Palti said.

Riordan urged Angelenos to resist fear.

``We cannot let the actions of a hopeless, desperate person with hatred in his heart dictate the way we lead our lives,'' Riordan said.

Jewish leaders agreed, saying that anti-Semitic groups like Aryan Nations, which counted Furrow as a member, will not scare them. They noted that the Jewish people have been persecuted many times in the past, most notably during the Holocaust, and always managed to survive their oppressors.

``We are not afraid,'' said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who flew in from New York for the rally.

``Not only because we have faith, but because we are not alone. . . . Let the Buford Furrows of this world be afraid, for the good people of this world will put them back under the rocks from which they came.''

The most seriously wounded victim of the shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and the only one still in the hospital was upgraded from critical to serious condition this weekend.

Five-year-old Benjamin Kadish was attending the Jewish day camp when he was shot in the thigh and seriously wounded in the abdomen.

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Photo: (1--Color) U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno joined community and civic leaders from all levels of government at Sunday's Unity Rally at CSUN.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer