Western ambassadors shun Nagasaki ceremony over Israel snub

[Pelican Press 0]

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Western ambassadors shun Nagasaki ceremony over ******* snub

Ambassadors from Western countries including the ******* States and the ******* Kingdom will not attend a ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the atomic ******** of Nagasaki after ******* was snubbed.

The mayor of the south-western ********* city, Shiro Suzuki, said on Thursday that ******* not being invited to attend was not politically motivated but added there would be no change to the decision.

The remarks come a day after it was revealed that the ambassadors of the ***, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the US and the ********* Union had sent a letter to Nagasaki in mid-July saying “it would become difficult for us to have high-level participation” in the event if ******* was excluded.

The ***** dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 is thought to have ******* about 74,000 people, both from the ********** itself and later from radiation.

It came three days after the first ***** dropped on Hiroshima and six days before Japan’s surrender in World War II.

Mr Suzuki said security reasons, including potential demonstrations, were behind his decision not to invite ******* to the commemoration ceremony.

But he said he regretted the ambassadors’ decision.

“It is unfortunate that they have communicated to us that their ambassadors are not able to attend,” he said.

A spokesperson for the British embassy in Tokyo confirmed to the BBC that ambassador Julia Longbottom would not attend the ceremony in Nagasaki.

Ambassador Longbottom had said that the decision not to invite ******* created an unfortunate and misleading equivalency with Russia and Belarus – the only other countries not invited to this year’s ceremony.

US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel will also not attend. An embassy statement said the mayor of Nagasaki politicised the event by snubbing *******.

A spokesperson told the BBC the ambassador would instead go to a peace ceremony at a temple in Tokyo.

*******’s ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, who was invited to and attended a memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on Tuesday, said Nagasaki’s decision “sends a wrong message to the world”.

In June, Mr Suzuki said Nagasaki had sent a letter to the ******** embassy calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

*******’s massive military offensive in Gaza has led to the deaths of almost 40,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s ******-run health ministry says.

It was triggered by the 7 October ****** attacks on *******, in which 1,200 people were ******* and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.

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