Arabic revisited

My friend Amanda was visiting me for the last week. She saw the sites and lived some pieces of my daily life here. This being her last day, we woke up early and drove to the airport for her departure flight. Just before walking into the airport's main terminal building, a security officer showed us her badge and asked for our passports. This is a selective screening, so not everyone (hardly anybody actually) gets stopped. Random.

Anyway, while looking at our passports she asked questions like where did we visit, what do we do. I absent-mindedly said I study Arabic and nonprofits. Thus set off a few more questions - where did I study, was this my first trip to Israel, and "please wait a few minutes so I can get my manager."

Mind you, I'm not even flying. I told the security officer that Amanda needed to get to her flight and anything about me was inconsequential. Didn't matter - the manager showed up a few minutes later and asked me questions. When did I start studying Arabic? Where do I coach frisbee? More questions but in an intimidating style.

This security manager even said that he speaks Arabic, that its one of his languages. But the general feeling was that studying Arabic is cause for concern for the airport security. And further, that speaking Arabic makes me suspicious. He gets to harass me because I study Arabic? Its one of two OFFICIAL ISRAELI LANGUAGES. Not English, Arabic. And yet studying it is some red flag.

Unrelated video (was intended to be a picture but came out as a video. Karym and I were dressed up for the Jewish holiday Purim):