Hiroshima, the Japanese city devastated by a US atomic bomb in 1945, is at the center of a growing controversy after local officials dismissed calls to disinvite Israel from its annual ceremony promoting world peace as war rages in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Every year on August 6, Hiroshima gathers foreign officials, along with locals, in a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. to mark the exact moment the bomb dropped, killing tens of thousands of people and leading to the end of World War II. <\/p>\n
Some activists and atomic bomb survivors\u2019 groups say the ceremony is no place for Israel, which is pounding Gaza with strikes as it seeks to eradicate Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group\u2019s devastating attack on October 7 last year. <\/p>\n
They say the Hiroshima city government should exclude Israel from this year\u2019s ceremony, as it has Russia and Belarus for the past two years over Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n
But Hiroshima authorities say they have no intention of excluding Israel. <\/p>\n
\u201cRussia and Belarus are not invited in order to ensure the ceremony goes smoothly.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s war in Gaza may \u201cprevent the smooth execution of the ceremony,\u201d they said, stressing the move was not a gesture of protest but a practical consideration. <\/p>\n
Of the two ceremonies, Hiroshima\u2019s is the largest with representatives from 115 countries and the European Union set to attend this year. <\/p>\n
Envoys from Russia and Belarus haven\u2019t attended since Hiroshima excluded them in 2022 following Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Russia used Belarus as one of the launch pads for its assault and later moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons there. <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony takes place against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where Israel\u2019s bombardment has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced nearly the entire enclave\u2019s more than 2 million people, who now face severe shortages of food, shelter, water and medical supplies. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy invite Israel if they are committing genocide-like crimes, just like Russia and Belarus?\u201d said Tetsuji Kumada, executive director of Hiroshima\u2019s Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization, one of the groups opposing Israel\u2019s presence. <\/p>\n
Another group, Hiroshima-Palestine Vigil Community, launched an online petition in May, calling for Israel\u2019s representatives to be excluded, saying that \u201ccurrent global protests against Israel clearly outnumber those against Russia in both scale and frequency.\u201d <\/p>\n
The petition has since amassed more than 30,000 signatures. <\/p>\n
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations from critics as well as rights groups and experts that it has broken international humanitarian law with the breadth of its response to Hamas\u2019 attacks. It argues its war is against Hamas, not Palestinians, although anger over the extent of the destruction and civilian deaths in Gaza has swelled globally. <\/p>\n
Japan has taken a strong stance in Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, pledging to stand with Kyiv, offering billions of dollars in humanitarian aid and military vehicles and equipment for mine-clearing operations. It has also imposed sanctions on Russia. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tokyo has offered humanitarian aid to Gaza, expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d for the critical situation in the strip and supports a two-state solution to the conflict. <\/p>\n
According to Japanese news agency Kyodo News, the Hiroshima government referred to the war in Gaza in its invitation to Israel, urging the country to cease its offensive. <\/p>\n
The invitation said it was \u201cdeeply regrettable that the lives and everyday existences of many people are being taken away,\u201d Kyodo reported. <\/p>\n
The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later led to Japan\u2019s unconditional surrender and brought an end to World War II. But it also killed tens of thousands of people, both instantly and in the months and years to come due to radiation sickness. <\/p>\n
Every year, diplomats in Japan are invited to Hiroshima to join the commemoration that highlights the importance of peace and cautions against the use of nuclear weapons. <\/p>\n
But while some advocacy groups urged Hiroshima to shun Israel, others supported its presence. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a city of international peace, Hiroshima city needs to invite all nations, regardless of whether they are at war or not,\u201d said Kunihiko Sakuma, president of Hiroshima Hidankyo, an atomic bomb survivors\u2019 advocacy group. <\/p>\n
Hiroshima authorities said they only send invitations to countries with embassies in Japan and have never invited Palestinian representatives to the ceremony. <\/p>\n
At a news conference last week, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reiterated Japan\u2019s support for a two-state solution. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to comprehensively consider the recognition of Palestinian statehood, taking into account how to advance the peace process,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Junko Ogura contributed to this report.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hiroshima, the Japanese city devastated by a US atomic bomb in 1945, is at the center of a growing controversy after local officials dismissed calls to disinvite Israel from its annual ceremony promoting world peace as war rages in Gaza. Every year on August 6, Hiroshima gathers foreign officials, along with locals, in a minute <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}