ISRAEL THREATENS IRAN OVER NUKES

An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said recently. "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Israel Says Farewell to Regev and Goldwasser: Thousands at Burials of Returned Israeli Soldiers

Thousands of mourners turned out for the burials of two Israeli soldiers returned in a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, laying to rest the young men whose unknown fate had riveted Israel for two years. The pair's 2006 capture in a raid by Hezbollah sparked a month long war. Though officials believed the two soldiers were dead, there was no proof until their bodies were returned in black coffins.

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.