G7 ambassadors to miss Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial over Israel's exclusion

8/8/2024 16:43

        Nagasaki's mayor said he would stick to a decision to exclude Israel's ambassador from Friday's event to mark the city's atomic bombing, though senior diplomats of the United States and other Group of Seven nations said the snub would keep them away.
        
        Their absence could embarrass Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, set to attend the annual event, which typically draws less attention than one held in Hiroshima three days earlier to mark the first-ever use of nuclear weapons.
        
        "It's not that we haven't issued an invitation to the Israeli ambassador for political reasons, but rather, we want to conduct the ceremony smoothly in a calm and solemn atmosphere," said Nagasaki's mayor, Shiro Suzuki.
        
        "There has been no change in that judgment," he added, but did not elaborate.
        
        The exclusion puts Israel on a list of uninvited countries that includes Russia and Belarus, although its ambassador, Gilad Cohen, attended this year's ceremony in Hiroshima.