News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Switzerland's participation in Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations will be limited to its being represented by the country's ambassador and without an invitation to the Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. "Personally, I am disappointed that our country was not invited at the government level," she was quoted by the Swiss weekly Sonntag.

Israel has invited numerous heads of state, academics and artists for a three-day event marking the 60th year since the re-establishment of the Jewish state. Relations between Switzerland and Israel have cooled since its recent agreement on a huge natural gas deal with Iran. Switzerland also was the only European country in the United Nations Human Rights Council to back a recent resolution condemning Israel for counterterrorist operations that killed Gaza terrorists and several civilians, who often are used as human shields by terrorists.