Western ambassadors boycott Nagasaki memorial after Israel excluded

The Cradle, August 7, 2024 — 

The Japanese city did not invite Israel’s ambassador to the ceremony to avoid the risk of protests against the Gaza genocide

Western ambassadors to Japan announced that they would not attend an upcoming ceremony commemorating the victims of the US 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki because the city’s mayor did not invite the Israeli ambassador.

This includes the ambassadors from the US, the UK, France, Italy, and Australia.

Nagasaki’s mayor stated last week that Israel’s ambassador, Gilad Cohen, was not invited to the ceremony on 9 August due to the potential risk of protests over Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Reports also indicate that Japanese authorities have also excluded Russian and Belarusian ambassadors from the invitations.

Julia Longbottom, the UK’s ambassador to Japan, told local reporters that Israel is acting in self-defense in Gaza and should not be equated with Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony will mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which killed at least 150,000 people, mostly civilians, and inflicted many more deaths due to radiation poisoning.

On 6 August, Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a travel alert advising its citizens not to visit Israel due to rising regional tensions following Israel’s assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil.

Last month, Japan announced it would impose sanctions for the first time on four Israeli settlers for their involvement in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.