We are at war. More threats exist. FOX News' Beltway Boys talked over the weekend about Russia and China currently conducting joint military training.

And as we've witnessed, Islamic terrorists' plots know no limit to which countries will be attacked. Then there's the conflict in the Middle East, with the Jews being 'disengaged' (thrown out of) their homes and land today by their own government. Disgraceful!

Yesterday as V-J Day was being remembered , Israel commemorated Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Today another tragic chapter is being written in their 'history book' as they begin to be deported from Gaza. (Did I mention that the Jews only own 7% of the land in Israel, and now even some of that is being taken away from them?).

Lest we forget the ultimate purpose of the disengagement in the minds of the Palestinian leaders, here is what Arafat's successor had to say:

"Today, our march to freedom begins. Tomorrow, it will be Jenin's turn and after that Jerusalem." -Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Leader on Israeli Gaza pullout.

When President Harry S. Truman announced in 1945 that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies [WWII] in 1945, thousands of people filled the streets throughout the United States to celebrate the victory over Japan, V-J Day. The official ratification of the surrender took place on September 2, in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri. 1,000 Japanese soldiers raided the Imperial Palace to find the proclamation and stop its being transmitted to the Allies, but were unsuccessful. That night, General Anami, member of the Japanese War Council most against surrender, committed suicide. Why? to atone for the Japanese army's defeat, and to avoid hearing the emperor speak the words of surrender.

Defeat will eventually be a reality for one side or the other in war. And while our generation (as other generations have in the past) sit at home debating (or protest in Crawford, TX) whether to go to war, stay in a war, or pull out of a war, let us not forget that the Japanese would not have surrendered, Afghanistan would not be liberated today and Saddam Hussein's regime would not have fallen, if America had pulled out 'yesterday.'

Today, at least in the mind of this non-Jew friend of Israel, America is on the wrong side of the disengagement, the deportation, the pull-out of the Jews from their land in Gaza. It's a 'forced surrender' that will neither result in peace nor satisfy those who want an end to any kind of state of Israel.

© Sharon Hughes 2005