Passing time in a tightly packed airport coffee shop recently, I ended up in conversation with a thirty-something couple sitting only inches from me. I was coming from Mexico City and they were going there. After the usual banter, I asked where they were from and learned they were New Yorkers moving out of that city. They didn’t offer a reason and I didn’t press for one. They asked me what I did for a living and I explained that I was a writer currently investigating how cartels were smuggling people into the US. I say I was chatting with this couple, but it was really only with her. He said nothing the entire time. But he listened intently as she asked questions. “You travel a lot? Where have you been?” “Well, so far this year, I’ve covered the WEF in Davos, researched Karl Marx in London, went to Gaza with the IDF…” “You’ve been to Israel?” She interrupted. “We’ve been there. What do you think of the war?” I guessed that here our conversation would end unhappily. They were New Yorkers, so almost certainly heavily propagandized lefties. But I pressed on. “Almost everything you hear in Western media is wrong…” “You mean it’s a lie. How?” “Oct 7 was not just a Charlie Hebdo-style terrorist attack. It was an act of war. More than 7,000 Hamas terrorists penetrated the frontier at more than 100 points. Inspired by Islam, they had been instructed to r8pe, behead, torture, and kidnap men, women, and children.” He still said nothing, but leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “Who helped them do it?” She asked. “Iran was the biggest supplier, but North Korea, China, and Qatar mostly. The UNRWA also played a role. Weapons and matériel were stockpiled in Egypt and smuggled into Gaza through tunnels.” “You know that?” “I know that. Trust me.” That led to a discussion of President Sisi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and my standoff with Egyptian State Security in Cairo. Still, I had no real gauge for where they stood politically. She asked if I had written anything on the subject, so I pointed her to my article for The Federalist connecting the dots between Egypt, USAID, Gaza, and my swatting. A woman sitting nearby, leaned over and said, “Forgive me for eavesdropping on your conversation, but this is fascinating.” We all chatted a bit longer and I left. About 30 minutes later I was standing in line at the gate waiting to board my flight when the husband appeared. “Pardon me, but I had to come find you.” He was full of emotion. He indicated that he and his wife were Israelis who had lived in NYC but were now fleeing Mamdani’s third world sh*thole. “You are a man who needs the protection of angels,” he said, and then presented me with a Jewish holy book. “We want you to have this. I pray it protects you.” With that he turned and walked away. Gentile and fierce Protestant that I am, I was nonetheless deeply moved. It seems they had read the article and, catching a glimpse of my work, felt my life was in danger. For my own part, I was aware that the same ideology that threatened me, was the same one that threatened them, forced them to move, and imperiled their native land. I’m often amazed by the people the Lord puts in my path when I pause long enough to look around and notice them.