Hiroshima accused of 'double standards' over inviting Israel for 'peace' conference in Japan

The Hiroshima city government has been accused of “double standards” for inviting Israel to attend the 6 August annual “peace ceremony” commemorating the atomic bomb attack on the city, Anadolu Agency reports.

The criticism came from the city residents and peace activists, as Russia and Belarus have been barred from the ceremony for three consecutive years over the Ukraine war, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Monday.

Hiroshima announced that Tel Aviv has expressed its intention to attend the annual “peace ceremony”, raising the number of countries slated to take part to a record high of 115.

The invitation to Israel, widely regarded as a nuclear-armed state, included a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which has drawn increasing international opposition.

“We believe that they will attend after seriously taking our thoughts into account,” a city official said of the invitation to Israel at a press conference.

READ: Israel dropped 65,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza in 89 days

Among the nuclear powers, Britain and France plan on attending, and arrangements are being made for the US, which dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 August,1945 respectively.

China has not responded to the invitation yet.

Of other nuclear nations that have not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, India has showed its consent to attend the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Nagasaki city government has said it was to invite Israel to its 9 August ceremony amid debate over “whether to do so”.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since a 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 38,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 88,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

READ: Colombia: Gaza is suffering the same fate as Hiroshima