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Senior diplomats said in United State and other countries Group of Seven They will not attend an event scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, at Japan To commemorate the nuclear bombing of the city NagasakiThis is after the city authorities insisted on not inviting Israel to her.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said he stood by his decision not to invite the Israeli ambassador to the event, explaining that the decision was not made for political reasons, “but because we want to hold the ceremony in a calm and solemn atmosphere.”
Besides Israel, the city authorities did not invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the annual ceremony.
The decision comes as Israel continues its aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has left more than 39,600 martyrs and destroyed a large part of the densely populated Strip.
The decision could embarrass Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is scheduled to attend the annual event, which usually receives less attention than one held in Hiroshima two days earlier to mark the first use of nuclear weapons in history.
Anxiety and protest
Commenting on the decision to exclude the Israeli ambassador from attending, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in statements that “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s defense of itself are not morally equivalent.”
“Unfortunately, the mayor's decision will distract from the main message of the ceremony,” he added.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment when asked about the matter during a regular press conference on Thursday, and the Israeli embassy in Tokyo has not yet commented on the matter.
Last month, Emmanuel and other ambassadors from the G7, including those of Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, as well as the European Union representative, sent a letter to Suzuki expressing their concern about Israel's exclusion.
The G7 group urged restraint and de-escalation in the Middle East amid rising tensions, although it still stands by its support for Israel.
Tomorrow, Japan will commemorate the victims of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki 79 years ago, when the “Fat Man” atomic bomb dropped by the United States exploded over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
In Nagasaki alone, about 70,000 people were killed as a result of the direct impact of the strike, while another 75,000 were injured.
Three days earlier, the United States had destroyed Hiroshima with another atomic bomb, and the two strikes led to Japan's surrender in World War II on August 15, 1945.
