President Clinton has endorsed a rally being staged in Washington this October by the head of the Nation of Islam, Minister Louis Farrakhan, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March.

“I think this is a very positive idea,” Mr. Clinton said in an interview last week with a Harlem newspaper, the Amsterdam News.

A wide array of black community leaders, including two former Democratic presidential candidates, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Alford Sharpton, have joined with Mr. Farrakhan as “co-conveners” of the October gathering. The “Millions More” rally is intended to promote self-empowerment, economic development, and skills training among blacks and other underprivileged groups.

The Anti-Defamation League has called on Rev. Jackson, Rev. Sharpton, and the other leaders to reconsider their participation in the event.

The league pointed to Mr. Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic statements. In addition, the league noted that one co-convener of the rally, Malik Shabazz, heads the New Black Panther Party, an organization described as “violently anti-Semitic” by a legal project that tracks hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In the interview, Mr. Clinton praised the unity displayed by black leaders.

“Jesse and Mr. Farrakhan and Rev. Sharpton probably have internal domestic political differences, but they’ve agreed on this, and I think it’s a good thing,” Mr. Clinton was quoted as saying. “I like the idea of a march, but think it would also be good at the march for them to say, ‘We want to call your attention to this problem and here’s something else you can do.’ “

The former president said domestic priorities may be getting insufficient attention because of the war on terror. “It’s fine to be concerned about security, but we also have to keep trying to make America strong and better here at home. And we can’t neglect the quality of our jobs, the quality of our education, the quality of our environment,” Mr. Clinton told the newspaper.

Mr. Clinton’s office did not respond to messages yesterday seeking comment.

A spokesman for the ADL, Todd Gutnick, called Mr. Clinton’s statements “a little disturbing.”

However, Mr. Gutnick said he interpreted the former president’s comments as primarily an endorsement of the idea behind the march and not necessarily its organizers.

Earlier this week, a black hip-hop music promoter, Russell Simmons, criticized the ADL’s president, Abraham Foxman, for denouncing the October gathering.

In a harshly worded personal letter, Mr. Simmons said Mr. Foxman’s call to renounce Mr. Farrakhan “will do nothing more than increase the polarization of relations between millions of African-Americans and Jewish-Americans.”

“Your actions will only help to spread anti-Semitism rather than help to end it,” Mr. Simmons wrote. He also praised Mr. Farrakhan’s record of helping the community.

Mr. Foxman called Mr. Simmons’s letter disappointing. “It is the old, blame-the-victim approach, which surprised me coming from someone who is aware of the nature of prejudice,” the ADL leader wrote in reply.