On the flight from Amsterdam to Rome I sat next to two Lebanese ladies, mother and daughter.
The mother started a conversation in French. Her daughter was working in The Hague and she was going to Rome with her daughter for the canonization of John Paul II.
The mother spoke about the difficulties in Lebanon, I told her that I had been to Lebanon in 2007 and then she said: “The Christians have two enemies, the Muslims and the Jews, they both want to destroy Christianity.”
“Well,” I said, “there are moderate Muslims and there are moderate Jews.”
I looked at the daughter; she was both imperfect and gorgeous. I wanted to undress her; I wanted to make love to her.
But of course I kept silent – there’s enough anti-Semitism already.