US, UK to skip Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial ceremony after city mayor invites Iran, not Israel

Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, will not participate in Japan's annual Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on Friday as Israel was not invited to the event, the Japan Times reported on Wednesday morning.

Nagasaki's 79th atomic bomb anniversary event will not include Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen due to security concerns, according to a separate Times report that cited Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki.

Suzuki explained this decision was to ensure the ceremony remained peaceful and focused on remembering the victims. However, some critics believe excluding Israel is a political move that sends the wrong message about standing up against terrorism and supporting global unity, the report added.

The decision to exclude Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen from Nagasaki’s atomic bomb commemoration ceremony while inviting representatives from countries with serious human rights violations raises concerns, the Times added.

Furthermore, the argument that the Japanese police are not capable of ensuring security for the event "is impossible to believe," making the exclusion of Israel seem unjustified, the report further noted.

The list of invited nations included Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, China, Myanmar, and Afghanistan, all of which have notable records of human rights abuses. Most controversially, the Times added, the Iranian ambassador was invited despite Iran’s designation as a primary sponsor of terrorism by the US and its allies.

Iran's attendance at the Nagasaki peace ceremony

Iran’s support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah contrasts sharply with the event's goal of promoting peace, further highlighting the "irony of this decision," the article continued.

Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, ordnance the ceremony aims to remember and condemn, the Times reported.

In a different report in the Japan Times, Mayor Suzuki's decision not to invite Israel to the event, even though a Palestinian envoy was invited, was the reason for the US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel's decision to skip the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on Friday and go to a different event in Tokyo.

The US Embassy said Emanuel chose not to attend because he did not want to support the event's political issues.

British Ambassador Julia Longbottom will also not attend, saying the decision could wrongly compare Israel to Russia. The Israeli ambassador attended a similar ceremony in Hiroshima earlier this week.