Once – long ago – I entered a train in the Paris Metro with a few others from home, and as I sat down, two things happened: a woman said something to me in Hebrew and a woman in a hijab with a big bag sat down next to me. She began shouting at me while she put her hand in her bag, and I kept silent. She began in French but when I didn’t react she began a version of German and Arabic. I understood all the curses in all the languages but my eyes were focussed on her hand in her bag. Finally I said to her in French that I didn’t know what she was saying but I understood that she was angry with me. We began talking and of course I lied about where I was from and how much I knew, and we became friends after 4 stops.
But I have my eye on that hand now. And I really believe she had a very long and sharp knife. And Hamas does too – all over the world.