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If you noticed a stranger carrying a gun outside your house, would you invite him inside to see if the weapon was loaded?

Of course not, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) told Jewish community leaders Tuesday in San Francisco at a fund-raiser for his gubernatorial campaign.

Shmoozing over grilled salmon at a City Club luncheon hosted by William Lowenberg, D'Amato used the gun analogy to explain why Israel in 1982 bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor: The Israelis didn't want to give the Iraqis a chance to develop nuclear weapons.

The United States, he said, could learn something from such an approach. Why wait for Iraq to use its chemical and biological weapons when a military strike could eliminate the threat?

But it might be too late, he said, referring to the rapid escalation of tensions between the Clinton administration and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"We needed a more consistent policy before we made public utterances."

D'Amato said U.S. demands have put pressure on Israel to be ready for war, adding he is concerned that Saddam might use the current crisis "as a pretext to draw Israel in.

"We have to be prepared to support Israel" if Iraq attacks.

While the New York Republican has few supporters in liberal San Francisco, he has been courting Jews for years. In addition to a strong pro-Israel stance, he championed efforts last year to investigate Nazi looting of Jewish assets as well as the failure of insurance companies and Swiss banks to compensate Holocaust survivors.

Talking about the resistance he encountered, he said, "Unless you persist, [the Swiss] hide and destroy records."

He praised President Clinton for ordering the declassification of documents in the investigation, and commended the Swiss bank employee who first reported the destruction of wartime documents.

Returning often to questions about tensions in the Middle East, D'Amato said he was more concerned about the building of a nuclear reactor in Iran than the U.S.-Iraqi detente.

"Iran is building a system that will threaten the entire region and shut off the oil supply to the rest of the world."