Photo/Illutration Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, right, during the Peace Memorial Ceremony on Aug. 6, 2023 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

HIROSHIMA—Russia and Belarus will not be invited to an Aug. 6 atomic-bombing anniversary ceremony here for the third consecutive year, although Israel will be extended an invitation, sources said.

Russia and Belarus representatives will be persona non grata at the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony on the grounds of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the continuing conflict, the sources said April 17.

“The situation remains unchanged from the past fiscal year, and we decided to respond to it the same way,” a city official said.

The city has already informed the central government of its decision, the sources said.

However, Hiroshima plans to invite a representative of Israel, which has been engaged in war with Hamas since October, when the Islamic militant group that rules the Gaza Strip attacked the country, the sources said.

“There is not a consensus opinion about the Hamas-Israel conflict among countries around the world,” a city official said. “We want to get our message of peace out by inviting Israel.”

In fiscal 2023, Hiroshima sent invitations to leaders and ambassadors of 167 countries to the Peace Memorial Ceremony, which marked the 78th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.

According to the sources, the city plans to send a letter instead to Russia and Belarus in May that says it is “eagerly waiting for the day when you can visit Hiroshima after the conflict is brought to an end.”

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