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Yesterday the country of Israel celebrated it's 55th birthday since its founding in 1948. The day is celebrated on the Hebrew date of 5 Iyar. The English date is the 14th of May. Celebrations and parties were thrown all over the country, but something was different. The parties were all thrown in closed, fenced-in areas because of the security risk. The attack at Mike's Place last week only added to the fear.

Two days ago Israel had it's Memorial Day (4 Iyar, the 6th of May this year). Memorial day is on the day before Independence Day to remind us that although we have a country, it has come at the very high cost of 21,540 (From 1860, when the country first started to be settled, until today) soldiers that will never be forgotten. The country stood still at 8:00 pm Monday night and at 11:00 am Tuesday morning as the sirens went off. 21 gun salutes were heard at every cemetary in every city where soldiers were buried.

Memorial Day ended the week of semi-mourning that commenced on the Holocaust Remembrance Day, (27 Nisan, the 30th of April this year) on which the country stood still at 10:00 am. This day commemrated the anniversary of the crushing of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which held the Nazi's at bay for 40 days up to the point where they had to bring in tanks to stop the uprising.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. -General George Patton