[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 34 (Monday, August 29, 1994)]
[Pages 1706-1710]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Teleconference With the B'nai B'rith Convention

August 24, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much, President Schiner, distinguished 
guests, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for that very warm greeting. And 
I certainly can identify with the tension of waiting for election 
results to come in. I'm very glad to be with you today, if not in body 
then very much in spirit.
    It's an honor to address the international convention of an 
organization that has done so much for our country. I understand that, 
along with delegates from 40 of our 50 States, there are among you 
representatives from 36 nations. I want each of you to know this 
country's gratitude for the extraordinary work B'nai B'rith has 
performed since its founding in 1843. Your tireless dedication to 
community service, health, education, and housing for the elderly, and 
your staunch opposition to bigotry of any kind long ago earned our 
respect and our thanks.
    Allow me to add my voice to the chorus saluting Kent Schiner as he 
steps down after 4 distinguished years as your president. Kent joined 
Hillary--or hosted Hillary and me--at the Jefferson Memorial last 
October when B'nai B'rith celebrated its 150th anniversary. I admire 
anyone who survives and thrives for a full term as president. So 
congratulations to you, Kent, on a job well done.
    This is a remarkably exciting time, both at home and abroad for 
issues of particular concern to B'nai B'rith and to me. At home we're on 
the verge of winning the fight to make our streets safer for law-abiding 
Americans. We're closer to the day when health care will no longer be a 
privilege for some but a right for all. Our economy is recovering--over 
4 million new jobs in the last year and a half. We're moving in the 
right direction at home. Abroad we've witnessed progress in one year 
toward peace in the Middle East that can literally take our breath away. 
And let me say a few words on these subjects.
    This past weekend, Democrats and Republicans in the House of 
Representatives joined in an unprecedented effort to set aside the petty 
concerns of partisan politics and acted quickly to address the real 
concerns of real people about crime. Not only did they pass a crime bill 
that the American people desperately want and need, but they showed the 
bipartisan spirit and good faith we desperately need here in Washington 
to make this National Government work again.
    Now the Senate has a chance to follow suit, to pass the toughest, 
smartest, most bipartisan crime bill in our Nation's history, a bill 
built on bipartisan roots of the crime bill that Republicans and 
Democrats in the Senate passed late last year by a vote of 95 to 4.
    This bill is centrist and bipartisan to its very bones: 100,000 new 
police officers, billions more for prisons, ``three strikes and you're 
out,'' prohibiting juveniles from owning handguns, a ban on deadly 
assault weapons, and much needed and working crime prevention programs, 
and a massive cut in the Federal bureaucracy to pay for these crime-
fighting efforts. That's right. We're reducing the Federal bureaucracy 
to its smallest size since the Kennedy Presidency and putting all the 
savings into a trust fund to pay for the crime bill. These aren't 
Democratic or Republican ideas; they are commonsense solutions that the 
American people support because they can really make a difference 
against crime and violence now and in the future.
    For 6 years, the American people have waited while Congress debated 
a crime bill, even as they watched the average violent criminal go free 
in just 4 years. It's time to act now. This is about keeping faith with 
the millions upon millions of American families who work hard, pay the 
taxes, obey the laws, and don't ask very much from our Government, but 
they do want to raise their children in a country that is safe and 
secure.
    The American people don't want a criminal justice system that makes 
excuses for criminals. They also are tired of a political system that 
makes excuses for politicians. It's time to put away the excuses, the 
blames, and the politics and join forces to pass this crime bill now. 
And I urge all of you to call

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your Senators, without regard to party, and tell them just that.
    For many years now, B'nai B'rith has been a leader in providing 
health care to all kinds of Americans. When I spoke to you at the 
Jefferson Memorial I described the hospital you opened in my home town 
of Hot Springs, Arkansas, some 90 years ago. The Leo N. Levi Hospital 
still cares for hundreds of people every year without regard to their 
ability to pay. That same generous spirit should animate our national 
health care system.
    After 60 years of trying, we're closer than ever to providing health 
security for all Americans. For the first time in our history, both the 
House and the Senate are considering comprehensive and effective health 
reform measures. These efforts are long overdue. Health costs are too 
high and rising too fast. Coverage is actually shrinking in America. 
Millions in the middle class are losing their insurance every year, many 
of them for good. There are 5 million working Americans and their 
children who don't have health insurance today who had it just 5 years 
ago.
    Meeting this challenge requires more from us than politics as usual. 
This again shouldn't be about politics or special interests. It should 
be about putting the interests of our families, our Nation, and our 
future first. I believe we can do it if we'll leave aside ideology and 
partisanship and follow the example that the House did Sunday in passing 
the crime bill. To do it, we'll have to join together to stand up to 
some intense pressures to guarantee that every American has solid, 
affordable, private health insurance. Every other major advanced country 
has done it. It's time for America to do the same.
    Lastly, let me say I know you share the joy that I feel in the 
progress that's been made toward peace in the Middle East. For more than 
four decades, Americans have identified with and supported Israel's 
struggle for survival and acceptance in a hostile region. Now, after so 
much bloodshed, so many lost opportunities, Arabs and Israelis are 
reaching out to each other to settle their differences through 
conciliation, compromise, and peaceful coexistence.
    Some of you were on the South Lawn of the White House to witness the 
historic handshake between Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin. And 
some of you joined us in the Rose Garden when King Hussein and the Prime 
Minister showed the world what warm peace can mean in the Middle East. I 
hope and I believe that the time is not far off when we'll see a 
comprehensive peace in the region, a peace that binds Israelis, 
Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, and Lebanese so that all their 
children can know a better future.
    The United States has been proud to serve as a full partner in the 
search for peace, not by imposing peace or making life-and-death 
decisions for others; that must be the responsibility of the leaders and 
the people of the region. Rather, our role is to facilitate negotiated 
compromise and to underwrite reasonable risk-taking. And that is exactly 
what we've done.
    I applaud the bold steps that Israel has taken, and I salute the 
courage of the Arab leaders who have stood up to the scurrilous charge 
that they are somehow selling out the Arab cause by securing for their 
own people a future of peace, prosperity, and hope.
    Now we must demonstrate that the international community supports 
this courage and ensure that the people of the region realize the full 
benefits of these peacemaking efforts. At the same time, we have a right 
to expect that all the participants in the peace process live up to the 
commitments they've made. In this regard, it's heartening to hear from 
many Palestinians their genuine desire for democratic elections, 
representative government, and transparent and accountable institutions. 
These things they need, and they deserve nothing less.
    As we move ahead in the peace process, we need to keep in mind some 
basic principles. First, peace must be real, not just the absence of war 
but a qualitative change in the relations between Israel and its 
neighbors: full diplomatic ties, an end to the boycott, open borders for 
people in trade, joint economic projects. And it would be inconsistent 
with real peace for any of the parties to host or sponsor those who 
reject accommodation with Israel, especially terrorist groups.
    Second, peace must be secure. The parties themselves must reach 
agreement that provides for mutual security. In the case of the Israel-
Syria negotiations, this administration,

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following consultations with Congress, stands ready to participate in 
the arrangements these parties reach. And just as this administration 
has acted to sustain and enhance Israel's qualitative military edge, so, 
too, it will help to compensate for any strategic advantages Israel may 
choose to give up for peace.
    Finally, peace must be comprehensive. We will work hard to achieve 
breakthroughs in the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. And when we do, we'll 
also expect the wider Arab and Muslim worlds to normalize their 
relations with Israel. Let me emphasize here that we're committed to 
bringing the Arab boycott of Israel to an end now.
    First of all, the boycott harms American companies, and it has no 
place in the peace process. Through the Gaza-Jericho accord and the 
transfer of authority elsewhere in the territories, the Palestinians 
have entered into a new economic relationship with Israel. Continuing 
the boycott harms not only Israel but the Palestinians as well. At the 
same time the Washington Declaration affirms that the abolition of all 
boycotts is the shared goal of Israel and Jordan. With serious progress 
being made on the Syria negotiating track, retaining this relic of a 
bygone era cannot possibly be justified. The boycott must be ended.
    Building peace is extraordinarily hard work. We know that the dark 
forces of hatred and terror remain deeply entrenched. In recent weeks, 
terrible attacks against Jews in Argentina, Panama, and England have 
underscored the heinous acts some will commit to undermine this peace 
process.
    Among you today are members of those communities, including Joseph 
Harari from Panama, who lost a nephew on the plane that was bombed from 
the skies over his country. Mr. Harari, I pledge to you and to everyone 
else in this room, we'll do all that we can to help bring the 
perpetrators of this crime and the other crimes to justice. Our policy 
is clear: to weaken and isolate those who reject a more peaceful future 
for the peoples of the troubled region.
    Two key obstacles of that future are Iraq and Iran and the radical 
groups they continue to support. In the case of Iraq, we must maintain 
the international consensus in favor of strict sanctions. This clear 
expression of international will has compelled Saddam Hussein finally to 
begin to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. But the true nature of 
Saddam's regime remains clear. Relief workers and weapons inspectors 
face constant harassment and intimidation. Terrorism plagues the Iraqi 
people. Witness last month's tragic death of a prominent Shiite leader, 
the summary executions of bank managers, and the recent assassination of 
an Iraqi dissident in Beirut by Iraqis credited as diplomats. Baghdad 
still refuses to recognize the sovereignty and borders of Kuwait. And 
the regime continues to destroy the lives of the marsh Arabs of southern 
Iraq. These facts serve as reminders of why we must and why we will 
maintain the sanctions.
    Of equal importance is our effort to contain Iran, the world's 
leading state sponsor of terrorism, the pledge to work with like-minded 
countries to meet the challenge of Iran's support for terrorist groups, 
its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and its campaign to 
subvert moderate regimes that have opted for peace. We must do this. We 
call upon all our allies to recognize the true nature of Iranian 
intentions and to help us convince Tehran that we will not tolerate 
rogue behavior.
    Now let me conclude on a happier and more positive note. It's been 
said that unless a person is a recipient of charity, he or she should be 
a contributor to it. Your work through B'nai B'rith gives life to that 
generous thought. So this week, as you reflect on your wonderful acts of 
community service and plan new ones, let me once again express the 
gratitude of our Nation for all you've done and all that you will do.
    Thank you very much.

Terrorism

[At this point, Mr. Schiner thanked the President for the efforts he has 
made to promote peace in the Middle East and to address the problems of 
health care and crime. Jorge Serejski, president of B'nai B'rith in 
Argentina, then asked the President what the administration can and will 
do to combat domestic and international acts of terrorism.]

    The President. Let me tell you what we are doing. First of all, you 
can see from the results of our efforts to solve the World

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Trade Center bombing case that we are very aggressive in pursuing these 
cases. We are intensifying our international cooperation, working with 
Argentina, Great Britain, and Panama, and other countries, to try to 
help resolve who did these terrible acts of terrorism and apprehend the 
perpetrators.
    In addition to that, we are increasing our cooperation through 
intelligence and law enforcement services with countries throughout the 
globe to try to prevent such acts from occurring in the first place. So 
we're trying to intensify our efforts at prevention and intensify our 
efforts at catching people when they do these terrible things.
    And I think we will have some considerable success. But we must not 
be naive. There are a lot of people who have a big, vested interest in 
the continued misery of people in the Middle East, the continued anxiety 
of Arabs, and particularly Palestinians and others. And they hate the 
fact that peace is winning converts and making progress.
    So as we move through the peace process, if we continue to have 
success, the enemies of peace will continue to look for opportunities to 
make innocent people pay the price, so that they can continue to make 
money and accumulate political power on the human misery that has 
dominated the Middle East for decades. So they'll be there, but we're 
doing what we can, and we are putting more resources into the effort to 
stop them before they do it and to catch and punish them if we're 
unsuccessful in stopping them in the first place.

Health Care Reform

[Janet Weissberg, a health care consultant, expressed her concern that 
some Senators have proposed a health care bill that would greatly reduce 
coverage for long-term care and eliminate coverage for prescription 
drugs. She asked the President about his commitment to these services.]

    The President. Well, my commitment is just as broad as it ever was. 
I think the provision of the prescription drugs, the long-term care is 
very important.
    But let me inject a little political reality here. The real problem 
is that we have Members of the United States Senate, including some 
people who've been very good friends of B'nai B'rith, who are walking 
away from what is the only known way to provide universal coverage, 
control cost increases in the out years, and still generate enough money 
to provide these services, which is simply to require all employers and 
employees to provide insurance and then provide discounts to those who 
can't afford to pay the full cost.
    Once you say we're giving up on the requirement that employers 
provide health insurance and their employees help to pay for it--even in 
5 years or 6 years from now, in the so-called hard trigger that Senator 
Mitchell advocated--once you walk away from that, then you find the 
Senate basically getting into taxes and Government regulation to try to 
raise a huge amount of money from people who are already paying for 
their health insurance and already have good health insurance to go 
throw it at people who have insisted on not being asked to do anything 
on their own in the hope that they can induce them with somebody else's 
money to do something they ought to do anyway. And that leaves less 
money for prescription drugs and long-term care.
    Now, that's basically what's happened. This whole debate has been 
mischaracterized. I think that our position is the essentially 
conservative one, where we simply ask everybody to do their part, since 
they're benefiting from the health care system, and buy private health 
insurance and then help them if they can't afford to buy it at the full 
price. But everybody's asked to do something.
    The so-called moderate and conservative people are trying to find 
ways to raise money from people who are already doing their part to 
basically overly subsidize people who don't have insurance and employers 
who could afford to pay and don't, in the hope that they can plead with 
them to do something that they're unwilling to require in the law. And 
that is the nub of all of our other problems.
    If you're asking me where I am, I am still where I always was. I 
will do my very best to provide it. I talked to a Member of the Congress 
today who needed some long-term care at home for an ailing parent. We 
need to do this. We need it desperately. But I would urge you to talk to 
the Members of Congress in both parties who have been your

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friends and ask them to look at the real world, instead of the kind of 
ideological box that they have put themselves in, and do something that 
will work.
    The main thing we must do is we must do something that will work. 
And it would be better not to do anything at all than to adopt a program 
that would actually increase costs of health care and reduce coverage. 
That's what we don't want to do.

Middle East Peace Process

[Irving Silver, chairman of the B'nai B'rith Center for Public Policy, 
asked the President what the administration is doing to impress upon 
Yasser Arafat and the PLO that their agreement with Israel can only 
succeed if they accept the spirit as well as the letter of its 
provisions.]

    The President. Well, we're telling him just what you said, and we're 
doing it on a regular basis. The Secretary of State's in constant 
contact with Mr. Arafat. We are working with the PLO people. We 
understood all along that because they had never actually run a country 
before and operated a government and all of its manifestations, with all 
of its problems, that there would be more difficulties here, operational 
difficulties, in making the agreement actually work. But we are working 
hard on that. And we're also trying to provide assistance and support as 
well as pressure when that will help to get them to do what they're 
supposed to do.
    We've also been very blessed in having a group of Jewish-American 
and Arab-American business people who are working together and are 
prepared to make some investments in those areas if we can get the PLO 
in a position where they can actually effectively function and implement 
this.
    So I believe that the biggest problem is one of capacity. And I 
think the limited capacity is undermining the question of will from time 
to time. We just have to keep the pressure on and also have to keep 
working practically to increase the capacity for this agreement to be 
implemented by the PLO.
    Mr. Schiner. Again, Mr. President, on behalf of the half million 
people and members who affiliate with B'nai B'rith in 51 countries, on 6 
continents, we thank you for your warm greeting and your important 
message. Thank you again.
    The President. Thank you very much, Kent. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:40 p.m. from Room 459 of the Old 
Executive Office Building.