Hiroshima, the Japanese city devastated by a US atomic bomb in 1945, is at the center of a growing controversy after local authorities rejected calls to withdraw Israel from the annual ceremony promoting world peace as war continues in Gaza.
Every year on August 6, Hiroshima gathers foreign officials and local residents for a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. [horário local] to mark the exact moment the bomb fell, killing tens of thousands of people and bringing an end to World War II.
Some activists and atomic bomb survivor groups say the ceremony is no place for Israel, which is bombarding Gaza with strikes as it tries to eradicate Hamas in response to the radical Islamist group’s devastating attack on Oct. 7 last year.
They say the Hiroshima city government should exclude Israel from this year’s ceremony, just as it did with Russia and Belarus in the past two years after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Hiroshima officials say they have no intention of excluding Israel.
“It is not a double standard. Our policy is to invite all countries. However, Russia and Belarus are exceptions due to the invasion of Ukraine,” a spokesman for the Hiroshima city government told CNN .
“Russia and Belarus were not invited to ensure the ceremony goes smoothly.”
Officials in Nagasaki, a Japanese city hit by an atomic bomb just days after Hiroshima, told CNN who have not yet decided whether to invite Israel to the peace ceremony on August 9.
Israel’s war in Gaza could “prevent the smooth execution of the ceremony,” they said, stressing that the move was not a gesture of protest but a practical consideration.
Calls for Israel’s exclusion
Of the two ceremonies, the one in Hiroshima is the largest, with representatives from 115 countries and the European Union present this year.
Envoys from Russia and Belarus have not attended since Hiroshima excluded them in 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February that year.
Russia used Belarus as one of the launch pads for its attack and later moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons there.
This year’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony takes place against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced nearly the entire enclave of more than 2 million people, who now face severe shortages of food, shelter, water and medical supplies.
“Why invite Israel if they are committing crimes akin to genocide, just like Russia and Belarus?” said Tetsuji Kumada, executive director of the Hiroshima Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Victims, one of the groups opposing Israel’s presence.
“It is very disappointing that our request was not taken into consideration,” he told CNN adding that the organization wrote to the Hiroshima government in June to ask that Israel be disinvited.
Another group, the Hiroshima-Palestine Vigil Community, launched an online petition in May calling for Israel’s representatives to be excluded, saying that “current global protests against Israel clearly outnumber those against Russia, both in scale and frequency.”
The petition has since garnered over 30,000 signatures.
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations from critics, as well as human rights groups and experts, that it violated international humanitarian law with the breadth of its response to Hamas attacks.
The country argues its war is against Hamas, not the Palestinians, although anger over the extent of destruction and civilian deaths in Gaza has grown globally.
A CNN has contacted the Israeli embassy in Japan for comment.
Japan has taken a strong stance in Russia’s war against Ukraine, pledging to stand by Kiev, offering billions of dollars in humanitarian aid and military vehicles and equipment for mine-clearing operations. It has also imposed sanctions on Russia.
Meanwhile, Tokyo has offered humanitarian aid to Gaza, expressed “deep concern” over the critical situation in the strip and supports a two-state solution to the conflict.
According to Japanese news agency Kyodo News, the Hiroshima government referred to the war in Gaza in its invitation to Israel, asking the country to cease its offensive.
The invitation said it was “deeply regrettable that the lives and daily existences of many people are being taken away,” Kyodo reported.
Uninvited Palestinians
The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later, led to Japan’s unconditional surrender and ended World War II. But it also killed tens of thousands of people, both instantly and in the months and years that followed from radiation sickness.
Every year, diplomats in Japan are invited to Hiroshima to participate in the commemoration that highlights the importance of peace and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.
But while some advocacy groups called for Hiroshima to avoid Israel, others supported its presence.
“As a city of international peace, Hiroshima City needs to invite all nations, regardless of whether they are at war or not,” said Kunihiko Sakuma, president of Hiroshima Hidankyo, an advocacy group for atomic bomb survivors.
However, the Palestinian Permanent Mission General in Tokyo complained on the social platform X that it had not been invited to the ceremony. “This decision is a double standard,” it said. Its envoy was never invited to the ceremony, the office told CNN .
Hiroshima authorities said they only send invitations to countries with embassies in Japan and have never invited Palestinian representatives to the ceremony.
At a press conference last week, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reiterated Japan’s support for a two-state solution.
“We continue to comprehensively consider the recognition of Palestinian statehood, taking into account how to advance the peace process,” she said.
(Junko Ogura contributed to this report)
Source: CNN Brasil
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