Photo/Illutration Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui explains the city’s decision to invite Israel to this year’s Peace Memorial Ceremony at a news conference on April 24. (Akari Uozumi)

Hiroshima officials are rejecting accusations of having a “double standard” by inviting Israel as usual to its annual Peace Memorial Ceremony on Aug. 6 but excluding representatives of Russia and Belarus.

At a meeting of the city assembly on May 21, a city official explained the reason for not inviting Russia again, for the third consecutive year since its invasion of Ukraine started in 2022. 

The official said that Russia “makes untrue claims about the invasion of Ukraine” and therefore inviting Russia “would send the wrong message.”

But the official added, “There is no such possibility” with regard to Israel.

A city assembly member pointed out that, in light of the U.S. support for Israel, “For a long time, the Japanese government has followed the U.S. stance toward international conflicts.”

The assembly member said, “It is no wonder that the U.S. response may be seen as having influenced Hiroshima city’s response in a roundabout way.”

According to Hiroshima officials, the city had received 1,130 comments by emails and postcards by May 16 on the matter.

One comment said, “By inviting Israel, Hiroshima city is affirming the massacre in the Gaza Strip.”

Since 2006, Hiroshima has invited representatives of all countries that have embassies in Japan to the ceremony, which prays for those who lost their lives in the 1945 atomic bombing of the city and for world peace. 

But in 2022, the city decided not to invite Russia and its ally Belarus, saying that “there is a possibility that inviting Russia might cause some countries not to attend the ceremony.”

The policy has continued, and earlier, the city announced that they are not invited to this year’s ceremony as well.

In October 2023, Hamas, an Islamic organization that effectively controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, attacked towns in Israel and fighting in Gaza commenced.

Hiroshima has never invited Palestine to the ceremony.

But the city has decided to invite Israel, which continues its attacks in Gaza, this year.

Regarding the divided response over the disputed parties, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said at a news conference in April, “I never said that one side’s war is good and the other side’s war is bad.”

When a reporter said that seemed like a double standard, Matsui raised his voice and replied, “That's your interpretation.”

On May 10, the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organization submitted a letter of request to the city, stating that “all nations should be invited regardless of whether or not there is a conflict.”

Meanwhile, the city government of Nagasaki, which holds its Peace Memorial Ceremony on Aug. 9, has not disclosed whether it will invite representatives of the three countries.

“We would like to wait until the very last minute to make a decision,” an official said. 

Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said at a news conference on May 16, “The world situation is changing on a daily basis, so we will keep an eye on the situation until the very last minute, specifically the very last minute before the deadline for sending out the invitations.”

Typically, the city government of Nagasaki sends invitations to all embassies in Japan between the end of May and early June.

But in 2022 and 2023, the city did not invite representatives from Russia and Belarus, citing concerns about “unforeseen circumstances at the ceremony” due to the situation in Ukraine.

(This article was written by Akari Uozumi and Takashi Ogawa.)

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