Hiroshima rejects calls to exclude Israel from nuclear bomb commemoration amid Gaza war

In 1945, a U.S. nuclear bomb devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands of people. Each year, the rebuilt Hiroshima hosts a commemoration with international representatives to honor the victims and remember the impact of the nuclear attack.

This year, officials from 115 countries, including Israel, are expected to attend the ceremony in Japan. However, anti-Israel activists have called for Israel's exclusion from the event due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza against the Hamas terrorist organization. These activists argue that Japan is displaying double standards by inviting Israel while excluding Russia, which invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

Despite these calls, the city of Hiroshima has rejected the demands to exclude Israel and dismissed accusations of double standards.

“It is not a double standard. Our policy is to invite all countries. However, Russia and Belarus are exceptions due to the invasion of Ukraine,” a Hiroshima city government spokesperson told CNN. “Russia and Belarus are not invited in order to ensure the ceremony goes smoothly.”

Tetsuji Kumada, executive director of Hiroshima’s Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, is one of the voices who opposes the presence of Israel at the ceremony in Japan.

“Why invite Israel if they are committing genocide-like crimes, just like Russia and Belarus?” Kumada said, echoing the false accusation against Israel that it is committing "genocide" of Palestinians in Gaza.

“It is very disappointing that our request wasn’t taken into account,” Kumada told CNN.

In May, Hiroshima-Palestine Vigil Community called to exclude Israel from the upcoming Hiroshima ceremony, arguing that “current global protests against Israel clearly outnumber those against Russia in both scale and frequency.” The anti-Israel group’s online petition has reportedly received some 30,000 signatures from Japan, a nation with a population of over 120 million people.

Kunihiko Sakuma, president of Hiroshima Hidankyo, an atomic bomb survivors’ advocacy group, defended the invitation to Israel.

“As a city of international peace, Hiroshima city needs to invite all nations, regardless of whether they are at war or not,” Sakuma stated.

Unlike China and Russia, Japan has supported Israel’s right to defend itself since the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion and attack. At the same time, Japan has expressed “deep concern” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israel has firmly rejected the accusations that the Israeli military is committing “war crimes” in Gaza, providing ample evidence that Hamas deliberately attacks Israeli civilians while using Gazan civilians as human shields – a double war crime under international law.

In June, John Spencer, head of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, accused Israel’s critics of applying unreasonable double standards against Israel compared to other countries.

“The IDF uses tactics that no army has ever seen to prevent harm to civilians and still fulfill its mission,” he said.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) did not received an invitation to the commemoration event as Japan currently does not recognize “Palestine” as an independent state. However, Japan supports the two-state solution.

“We continue to comprehensively consider the recognition of Palestinian statehood, taking into account how to advance the peace process,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told media representatives last week.