Israel Wasn't Invited, So US Bails on Nagasaki Ceremony

The US, British, and French ambassadors to Japan will skip a ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki over what is perceived as a slight against Israel. Nagasaki's mayor invited dignitaries from more than 150 countries and territories to the annual peace ceremony, to take place Friday, but excluded Israel. The move was in keeping with a 2022 decision to exclude Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine. But US ambassador Rahm Emanuel says it's wrong to equate Israel's war against Hamas with the aforementioned invasion. "Israel's self-defense is not morally equivalent," he says, per the New York Times.

Israel's ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, says there can be "no comparison" since Israel was "brutally attacked by terrorist organizations." Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said the decision, made last week, wasn't based on politics "but an intention to conduct the ceremony ... in a peaceful and solemn manner." He cited security risks and potential protests. But Emanuel says that's not the whole truth. Suzuki had written to the Israeli Embassy in June, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, per the Times. The following month, he suggested Israel might be left out of the ceremony, leading representatives from the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union, to express their concern.

Emanuel, now slated to attend a ceremony in Tokyo on Friday, says the peaceful message of Nagasaki's ceremony "will be distracted and deflected" as a result of Israel's exclusion. Excluding Israel "creates an unfortunate and misleading equivalency with Russia and Belarus," adds the British embassy, which confirmed ambassador Julia Longbottom would also skip the ceremony, per AFP. Meanwhile, the French embassy says it will send only its second-in-command to Nagasaki following the "regrettable and questionable" decision to exclude Cohen. The Israeli ambassador did attend a commemoration ceremony in Hiroshima on Tuesday, the Times reports. (More Japan stories.)