THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 4, 2024 at 13:27 JST
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki speaks to reporters on June 3 at the city hall. (Takashi Ogawa)
NAGASAKI—Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said he is withholding an invitation to Israel to attend the city’s annual peace ceremony and will call on the Jewish state to accept an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“Given the critical humanitarian situation in Gaza and international opinion, there is a risk of unpredictable disruption occurring at the ceremony,” Suzuki said on June 3. “We need to carefully monitor the situation as it develops.”
The peace ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 9, the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Suzuki said he would send a letter to the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, urging an immediate ceasefire.
Every year from late May to early June, Nagasaki officials send invitations to all embassies in Japan. However, Russia and Belarus have been excluded from the peace event since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
Suzuki said he would invite Israel once he determines that doing so will cause no problems. However, he did not specify any conditions or deadlines.
Officials in the world’s first atomic bombed city, Hiroshima, also urged Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in late May. But the city still invited Israel to the Hiroshima peace ceremony on Aug. 6.
Russia and Belarus were not invited.
Hiroshima’s invite to Israel drew mixed reactions from the public.
Critics say Hiroshima is condoning Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
On the other hand, a group of atomic bombing survivors and their supporters have petitioned Hiroshima city to invite all countries, regardless of their involvement in ongoing conflicts.
(This article was written by Takashi Ogawa and Hideki Soejima.)
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