UK, US envoys to skip Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony over Israel snub

The British and US ambassadors will not attend the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony tomorrow due to the city’s decision to exclude Israel from the event.

According to the Guardian, the US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, the son of a member of the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organisation that targeted and killed Palestinians prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, will not attend the event because it had been “politicised” and will instead participate in the ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo to honour the Nagasaki bombing victims.

Additionally, the British embassy said Ambassador Julia Longbottom would not be in Nagasaki, adding that not inviting Israel “creates an unfortunate and misleading equivalency with Russia and Belarus – the only other countries not invited to this year’s ceremony.”

The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. Japan is commemorating the 79th anniversary of the atrocity this year.

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Despite the US and several G7 nations opting to send lower-ranked envoys, Nagasaki’s Mayor, Shiro Suzuki, has maintained his stance on not inviting Israel’s Ambassador, Gilad Cohen, because of the risk of possible protests over Israel’s war on Gaza.

Suzuki said last week, “We only want to hold the ceremony in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere” to honour the victims. “It is absolutely not because of political reasons.”

“It is unfortunate that ambassadors won’t be able to join us this year, but I hope they will attend from next year.”

In June, Suzuki stated that Nagasaki had reached out to the Israeli embassy urging an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

Cohen, who attended the Hiroshima memorial ceremony on Tuesday, commented last week that Nagasaki’s decision “sends the wrong message to the world.”

Hiroshima invited the Israeli ambassador to its memorial service, which was attended by 50,000 people, including the US ambassador and other diplomats, though Palestinian representatives were not included. Japan does not recognise the State of Palestine.

Peace activists had staged protests in Hiroshima, criticising the local government for inviting Israeli officials to its event. Demonstrators accused Hiroshima authorities of double standards regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israeli actions in Gaza.

Japan has excluded Russia and Belarus from these ceremonies since Moscow’s “special military operation” against Kyiv began in February 2022.