Israel celebrates May 9 but renounces the veterans parade to avoid tensions between Russians and Ukrainians

JERUSALEM – A solemn but sober ceremony, centered on paying homage to war veterans, increasingly elderly, and without any representative of foreign countries. Israel celebrated Victory Day, the only state in the world outside the former Soviet bloc to choose May 9 as the date of the anniversary by state law in 2017 – but it did so by keeping a low profile and with great attention to balance geopolitical.