ISRAEL CELEBRATES 60 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
Festivities began May 8th, at the end of Yom Hazikaon, the solemn, 24-hour day of mourning for the more than 20,000 soldiers and civilians killed in fighting that preceded and followed Israel ‘s creation. Mostly, Israelis celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut by going to parks and picnic sites. Nature reserves, picnic sites, and museums were open to the public and the IDF opened selected bases to the public.
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ISRAEL BRINGS IN DIGNITARIES FOR ITS 60TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Israel’s President, Shimon Peres, announced that a May conference marking its 60th birthday will open with a tribute to Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States. In attendance will be President Bush and Barbra Streisand. “After 60 years we want to stand up and say ‘thank you America,'” Israeli President Shimon Peres said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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EIGHT KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK AT JERUSALEM YESHIVA
Eight teenage students were killed and nine others were wounded when a terrorist entered a crowded Jerusalem yeshiva and opened fire on March 6th. The head of the Zaka emergency service described the scene after the shooting as “like a slaughterhouse.” Three of the wounded in the attack at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva were in serious condition while the other six were slightly hurt.
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ISRAELI CABINET RESPONDS TO CONTINUED GAZA ROCKET FIRE
At the February 10th cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said there will be no peace between Israelis and Palestinians as long as Gaza terrorists continue launching rockets at Israeli towns. “There is no hope for any kind of peace or the vision of the Pales-tinian state which includes the Gaza Strip without real change on the ground,” Livni told reporters.
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Jewish Agency: Trying to Bring All Iranian Jews to Israel
The Jewish Agency is working to bring all of Iran’s remaining 25,000 Jews to Israel, an official told The Jerusalem Post as 40 immigrants landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport. The December 25th arrival was the largest single group of Iranian immigrants brought by the agency to start new lives in a country that Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to wipe off the face of the earth.
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Israel Insists That Iran Still Seeks Nuclear Weapons
Israel said recently that it remained convinced that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons and that it had probably resumed the weapons program an American classified report said was stopped in the fall of 2003. Israel believes Iran will have the resources to create a nuclear weapon by 2010 despite the U.S. intelligence report that it was not building an atomic bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said recently
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ISRAEL, US TO DEVELOP JOINT STRATEGIES ON IRAN
Israel and the United States have agreed to appoint two working committees for the purpose of developing a joint strategy against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Israel public radio has reported. Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz headed discussions on the matter in the United States this week. (more…)
ISRAEL ACKNOWLEDGES AIRSTRIKE ON SYRIA
Israel recently acknowledged that its air force had struck an unspecified military target deep inside Syria in September. But the military censor’s office continued to bar Israeli media from disclosing other information about the Sept. 6 raid, including the target, the forces that took part, and the degree of the mission’s success. Everything about the operation has been a tightly held secret in Israel. (more…)
SYRIAN ALLEGATIONS OF IAF STRIKE RAISE FEAR OF WAR
In a developing story, the Jerusalem Post cited US sources that a recent IAF air strike claimed by Syria on its territory was linked to a North Korean shipment of suspected nuclear material delivered three days before the attack.
QATAR OBJECTS TO UN VOTE TO FREE IDF RESERVISTS
Following objections from Qatar, the United Nations Security Council decided recently to delay the publication of a statement by the U.N. president calling for Hizbullah to release captive IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev immediately and without preconditions, Israel Radio reported.