For several minutes, the 160 people who gathered on Thursday evening lay on the sidewalk, pretending to be dead, in bone-chilling silence. When leaving the offices, employees pass by carrying their bags and look discreetly at these “corpses” lying on the sidewalk before rushing to the nearby metro entrance, as Media website reported. French Bart.
Thus, a group of Japanese expressed their solidarity with Palestine in Tokyo, where daily marches are held demanding an end to the bombing of Gaza, calling for the government to abandon its neutrality regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and demanding that it seek a ceasefire.
“Japan does not speak publicly about the bombing in Japan,” said Koji Sugihara, head of the survival group organizing the marches held in front of the Japanese parliament. GazaHe explained, “The Japanese government is ready – in order to protect its economic partnerships – to turn a blind eye to genocide… I am ashamed of my country.”
For more than two weeks, demonstrations in defense of Palestine have multiplied in the Japanese capital, and the rows have recently swelled in front of the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, Parliament, and in other places after sometimes not exceeding 100 people. Koji Sugihara says, “Our voice may seem humble compared to the voice of tens of thousands of demonstrators.” “In Paris and London, but at least it exists.”
The writer pointed out that Japan, among the G7, is the only one that maintains a neutral position on this issue, and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa confirmed to her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, Japan’s “unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks and the brutal killings and kidnappings it committed.” agitationAt the same time, she expressed her “deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,” stressing “the necessity of a humanitarian truce.”
Committed intellectuals
On Saturday afternoon, 1,600 people gathered on the sidewalks near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, raising banners demanding a ceasefire and the liberation of Palestine. Journalist Satoshi Kamata (85 years old), the organizer of the demonstration with writer Keiko Ochiai, and a group of intellectuals, said, “We demand a ceasefire.” Immediate response to the massacre in Gaza,” adding, “This call aims to make our voices heard as much as possible to save even one child in Gaza.”
On Sunday – as the site says – 1,600 people also demonstrated near Hibiya Park, and new gatherings are scheduled to be held in the coming days. The demonstrators expressed their anger towards their government by chanting “Shame on you Kishida,” in reference to the priority of strengthening economic partnerships with countries. East Asia for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, on human rights issues.
Although these gatherings were peaceful, the police increased their presence, and tension arose when they prevented the demonstrators from entering the Israeli embassy. They also arrested a student in the same place, and in front of Parliament on Thursday evening, the police tried to interrupt the “death demonstrators” several times for no apparent reason.
Finally, the writer wondered: Will the foreign ministers of the seven countries meeting in Japan reach a joint statement on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? To which Professor at Keiō University Koichiro Tanaka responded, saying, “The difficulty of the joint declaration lies in the definition of self-defense that Israel claims, because it is difficult for Japan to recognize with the G7 the right of self-defense for Israel alone while neglecting the right of the Palestinians to self-defense.” .
It is noteworthy that the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza for 32 days, in which more than 10,000 have been killed so far, including 4,104 children and 2,641 women, and more than 25,000 others were injured. This army also killed 160 Palestinians and arrested 2,150 in the West Bank, according to the report. Official Palestinian sources.
