Controversial lecturer, author and legal advisor to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Francis Boyle finally addressed his critics and supporters at Loyola Law School Wednesday night.

Boyle was originally scheduled to speak at Loyola March 20th. The lecture was postponed until a further date because the day before the lecture the invasion of Iraq began.

Boyle had to cancel because of his activity in the situation.

The professors involved in the lecture, Dana Bartelt, associate of professor of visual arts, Jeanne Woods, associate professor of Law School, and Bill Quigley, director of Law Clinic, applied for two grants to finance Boyle’s lecture here.

Quigley took charge of the Gillis Long Foundation through the Loyola Law School, which gave $1000 and added another $500 to pay for the reception after the lecture. Bartelt and Woods applied for the Biever Guest Lecture Series, which decided to give $500.

“Everything was fine and dandy until I made the flyers to promote the lecture which was scheduled for March 20th then all of a sudden things started jumping,” said Bartelt.

She began to receive what she perceived as harassing e-mails from the Jewish Federation, but according to Bartelt, this behavior is common.

“Anytime there is a speaker brought to Loyola that is critical in anyway of Israel, in my experience, certain individuals [from the Jewish Federation] find out, and they send representatives to Loyola to give me a hard time,” said Bartelt.

After she rescheduled the lecture to April 23, Quigley informed her that the Law School had revoked its grant.

According to Quigley, Gillis Long funds were granted for the advancement of domestic social justice issues. It was inappropriate use of the funds, he said.

“This, as an international issue, was thought to be outside of the scope of the grant,” Quigley said.

Bartelt was left with a charge of $1200 on her credit card.

“In good faith, I put out my money,” Bartelt said. “I feel like they turned their backs on me.”

She was informed through Law School Dean James Klebba’s secretary that they were not going to do anything about it.

Bartelt also went to the Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, who told her the lecture was too controversial.

Bartelt went out to the community to ask for money and received a generous donation from the members of the C3, an anti-war group.

“It was an embarrassment for me as a professor of Loyola to go out scrounging for money,” Bartelt said.

One of the organizations that helped fund the lecture was La Rouche Democrats.

A member of the New Orleans chapter said that the 9/11 attacks were an Israeli conspiracy, according to Adam Bronstone of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.

Bartelt said that she was confident that the money from the Gillis Long Foundation was revoked due to the Jewish Federation’s “nipping at their heels.”

Bartelt expressed concern that an outside organization like the Jewish Federation can come in and try to influence who comes to speak.

“The Jewish Federation considers this dangerous because Israel wants all of Palestine,” Bartelt said. “They don’t want us to know the truth about what’s going on over there.”

One of the main points that Boyle emphasized was his belief that the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza under Israeli occupation are tantamount to Bantustans.

Bantustan is a word originally used to describe the conditions experienced by black South Africans under apartheid.

Boyle’s main area of expertise is international law. He devoted much time to discussing international law and United Nations resolutions as they apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bronstone argued that the Jewish Federation is a part of every Jew in the Greater New Orleans area and should try to have every Jew be a part of the Federation.

“We are here to represent the Jews in the community,” said Bronstone, consultant and Director of Community Relations. “That makes Loyola Jews my business.”

Bronstone and the Jewish Federation assert that they are not against free speech and do not have a problem with Boyle, or the fact that he is controversial.

“I have a problem with the person bringing him,” Bronstone said. “Is the person bringing him in really interested in the by-long, and is he (Boyle) the person to have speak?”

The Jewish Federation has an issue with someone presented under the pretext of the education regarding the Middle East, according to Bronstone, especially a person who offers a blatant and biased opinion on the Middle East.

Bronstone also offered himself to be a formal respondent but was refused. Bronstone has a PhD in international correspondence.

The Jewish Federation says its main concern is that with all the advertising – flyers and campus emails – at no time was his relevant association as a direct advisor to the PLO made clear.

“There was no truth in his advertisement,” said Bronstone.

Another concern is an article written by Boyle called “The Big Lie.”

In this article, Boyle claims that there is a Jewish conspiracy trying to keep him down.

Boyle claims that because he is pro-Palestine, he cannot speak at certain universities such as Harvard University because of the high percentage of Jews, Bronstone said.

In September of 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel made a visit to the Haram al-Sharif.

The Haram al-Sharif is one of the holiest sites in Islam.

This action, according to Boyle, sparked the current intifada and cycle of violence in Israel.

Boyle supports this statement with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1322.

Resolution 1322 condemns Barak’s visit to the Haram al-Sharif as a provocation of the Palestinian population.

Boyle also spoke about President Bush’s Roadmap for Peace in Israel.

“It offers nothing but vague promises of good intentions,” said Boyle. “It punts on critical issues for reason of U.S. politics.”

Boyle opened the floor for questions after his lecture. Many asked questions relating to personal family experiences in Israel. Bronstone, questioned Boyle’s truthfulness.

Bronstone, visibly upset, stood up and tried to voice his opinion on Boyle and the lecture.

He was repeatedly told to state only his question and to calm down by Woods and other members in the audience.

After a volley of words between Woods and Bronstone, Woods threatened to have University Police escort him outside of the room.

Bronstone finally packed up his briefcase and left of his own accord.