{"id":5739,"date":"2024-07-21T06:49:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T06:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=5739"},"modified":"2024-07-21T06:49:10","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T06:49:10","slug":"israels-invitation-to-this-years-atomic-bomb-commemorations-in-japan-has-sparked-a-controversy-over-double-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=5739","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s invitation to this year\u2019s atomic bomb commemorations in Japan has sparked a controversy over double standards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Leaders<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, guest countries, and international organizations gather at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023.\u00a0undefinedAPTokyoCNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

But Hiroshima authorities say they have no intention of excluding Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not a double standard. Our policy is to invite all countries. However, Russia and Belarus are exceptions due to the invasion of Ukraine,\u201d a Hiroshima city government spokesperson told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRussia and Belarus are not invited to ensure the ceremony goes smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities in Nagasaki, the Japanese city hit by an atomic bomb just days after Hiroshima, told CNN they haven\u2019t decided whether to invite Israel to their peace ceremony on August 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

Calls for Israel\u2019s exclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

Envoys from Russia and Belarus haven\u2019t attended since Hiroshima excluded them in 2022 following Moscow\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine in February of that year. Russia\u00a0used Belarus as one of the launch pads for its assault<\/a>\u00a0and later moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons there.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

\u201cIt is very disappointing that our request wasn\u2019t taken into account,\u201d he told CNN, adding that the organization wrote to the Hiroshima government in June to ask for Israel to be disinvited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another group, the 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 outnumber those against Russia in both scale and frequency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition has since amassed more than 30,000 signatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has repeatedly rejected<\/a> 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\n\n\n

CNN has reached out to the Israeli embassy in Japan for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Palestinians<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Palestinians gather near damaged buildings, following what Palestinians say was an Israeli strike at a tent camp in Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip July 13, 2024. Mohammed Salem\/Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Japanese<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky lay a bouquet at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 21, 2023.\u00a0Naoya Azuma\/AP<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Tokyo has offered humanitarian aid to Gaza, expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d for the critical situation in the strip, and\u00a0supports a two-state solution to the conflict.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

Palestinians not invited<\/h2>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

But while some advocacy groups urged Hiroshima to shun Israel, others supported its presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Okihiro<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>However,\u00a0the Permanent General Mission of Palestine in Tokyo complained on social platform X that it had not been invited to the ceremony. \u201cThis decision is a double standard,\u201d it said. Its envoy was never invited to the ceremony, the office told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

At a news conference last week, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reiterated Japan\u2019s support for a two-state solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/07\/19\/asia\/israel-invitation-to-hiroshima-japan-sparked-controversy-intl-hnk\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, guest countries, and international organizations gather at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023.\u00a0undefinedAPTokyoCNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[58,1899,1510,1898,349],"class_list":["post-5739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-america","tag-atom-bomb-dropped-on-japan","tag-israel-2","tag-japan-2","tag-us-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5741,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739\/revisions\/5741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}