The ambassadors of the other G7 countries (US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and Italy) declined to attend the Nagasaki Peace Ceremony on Friday (August 9) because the Israeli ambassador had not been invited. The only other countries not invited were Russia and Belarus.
According to the US Embassy in Tokyo, Ambassador Rahm Emanuel decided not to attend the event because he felt it was being “politicized,” which he ensured by making front page news around the world.
Julia Longbottom, the British ambassador to Japan, said excluding Israel had the “unfortunate and misleading effect of placing it on the same level as Russia and Belarus.”
This was not unexpected: On July 19, ambassadors from six countries and the European Union wrote to Nagasaki Mayor Suzuki Shiro, saying that if Israel was excluded, “it will be difficult to obtain high-level participation.”
Mayor Suzuki told reporters, “There were no political reasons for not inviting the Israeli ambassador. We wanted the ceremony to be peaceful, solemn and smooth. It was a difficult decision.”
“I believe your decision is political and has nothing to do with the safety of the event, especially considering the level of participation,” Emanuel wrote to Suzuki, according to media reports.
Ambassadors from the G7 countries attended peace ceremonies in Hiroshima last Tuesday, but Israel was invited, while Russia and Belarus were not. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima's region, spoke at both ceremonies.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that the Japanese government was “not in a position to comment” on Suzuki's decision because the event was hosted by the city of Nagasaki.
Speaking in Nagasaki on Friday morning, Mayor Suzuki called on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, saying:
“The leaders of nuclear-weapon states and those under the nuclear umbrella must face up to the reality that the very existence of nuclear weapons poses a threat to humanity.” Of course, Japan is one of the countries that is said to be protected by the US nuclear umbrella.
“We also call for dialogue and diplomatic efforts to seek a peaceful solution, no matter how difficult, rather than choosing the path of arms expansion and the threat of force,” he continued.
“With no end in sight to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and growing fears of escalating armed conflict in the Middle East, we now face a perilous situation in which important norms we have adhered to may increasingly erode.”
According to Kyodo News, Suzuki also said Japan must play a leading role in easing tensions and promoting disarmament in Northeast Asia.
Kawasaki Akira, executive committee member of Japanese NGO Peace Boat, told reporters, “Russia and Belarus are violating international law in the Ukraine issue, and Israel is violating international law in Gaza, but the solution is not to exclude these countries, but to invite them. The purpose of this ceremony is to think about peace.”
Kawasaki, who is also a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), pointed out, “It would be a different story if the G7 countries had abolished nuclear weapons and pledged to true peace, but they still possess nuclear weapons, and the United States has not even apologized for using them. I think all countries should take seriously the significance of the ceremonies in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.”
The ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945. In Nagasaki, a moment of silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time the atomic bomb, codenamed “Fat Man,” exploded over the city.
In Hiroshima, protesters held a civil alternative peace memorial ceremony for Palestine, with Palestinian ambassador Waleed Siam sending the following message: “We express our horror, dismay and indignation that Hiroshima, a symbol of peace, has chosen to be hijacked by its oppressors and their supporters while excluding its victims. The invitation (to Israel) has ignored our voices, perpetuated our suffering and undermined the very principles of justice that Hiroshima represents.”
Perhaps this is what Nagasaki Mayor Suzuki was trying to avoid. Like the Olympics, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki peace ceremonies should be held outside of current politics. But, like the Olympics, this is not the case.
The two atomic bombs are believed to have killed more than 200,000 people, most of them civilians, and many others suffered severe burns and radiation sickness for years after the attacks. According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of March 2024, there were 106,825 officially certified survivors.
In the United States, a common justification for dropping the atomic bomb is that it hastened the end of the war and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers.
(In the invasion of Kyushu, planned for November 1, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur estimated that 94,250 men would be killed or wounded in battle during the first three months, and another 12,600 would fall victim to accidents or disease.
In the worst-case scenario (three landings instead of one and a longer operation), casualty estimates were closer to 500,000, but Japan announced its surrender on August 15 and the invasion never took place.
However, General Dwight Eisenhower wrote in his memoirs, “…Japan was already defeated…there was no need for the atomic bombs at all.”
Admiral William Leahy, President Truman's chief of staff, wrote in his memoirs, “…the use of these barbaric weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki had provided no real aid in the war with Japan, which was already defeated and ready to surrender.”
Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who led the Tokyo air raids, said, “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with ending the war.”
These quotes and others appear in “The War Was Won Before the Atomic Bomb Was Dropped on Hiroshima — and the Generals Who Dropped It Knew It,” published in The Nation magazine on August 6, 2015. How many people realize this today?
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