Nagasaki commemorates the dropping of the atomic bomb - Israel is not welcome
Out of concern that protests against Israel could disrupt the commemoration, Japan did not invite the country to the Nagasaki memorial. In solidarity, Germany, the USA, and other countries also stayed away from the ceremony. Israel was still allowed to participate in the Hiroshima memorial three days ago.
The memorial in Nagasaki for the US atomic bombing 79 years ago was overshadowed by diplomatic tensions with Israel. Several ambassadors, including the German representative, had cancelled their participation after the city decided not to invite Israel. In his peace declaration, Mayor Shiro Suzuki called for the abolition of nuclear weapons given the current global security situation. Suzuki justified the decision not to invite Israel by saying that protests against Israel's war in Gaza could disrupt the solemnity of the ceremony. However, he also stated that the decision was "not political".
The diplomatic representatives of the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union then stayed away from the ceremony. According to media reports, they had expressed their concern in a letter to Suzuki that not inviting Israel would put it on the same level as countries like Russia and Belarus.
Russia and Belarus have not been invited to the memorials in Hiroshima or Nagasaki for the past three years due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Hiroshima had invited the Israeli representative to the memorial three days ago, but did not invite the Palestinian representative, while Nagasaki did allow them to participate, as noted by Japanese media.
At 11:02 am local time, the time when the "Fat Man" atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki by a US bomber on August 9, 1945, the participants of the memorial event observed a minute of silence. Around 70,000 people were killed and about 75,000 injured in Nagasaki alone.
Three days earlier, the USA had devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb of lesser power. Under the impact of the immense destruction, the Japanese Empire surrendered on August 15, 1945. Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the first and only cities in the world to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, serving as a symbol of the horrors of war and for peace. Today, the nuclear threat is increasing again in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The absence of Israel at the Nagasaki memorial was partly due to the city's concern about protests in the Gaza Strip disrupting the event. Despite this, Israel was permitted to participate in the Hiroshima memorial just three days prior.
The diplomatic decision not to invite Israel to Nagasaki sparked concern among countries like the USA, UK, and Germany, who expressed their disagreement in a letter to Mayor Shiro Suzuki.
