He spoke for ten minutes, in a smooth and purring voice, then he took questions. I’d often noticed how even the most tenacious, aggressive reporters went soft in the presence of Ben Abbes, as if hypnotized. And yet it seemed to me there were some tough questions to be asked—about the ban on coeducation, for example, or the fact that teachers would have to convert to Islam. But wasn’t that how it already was with Catholics? Did you have to be baptized to teach in a Christian school? On reflection, I realized I didn’t know the first thing about it. By the end of the press conference, I felt that
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