US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has decided not to attend the annual peace ceremony in Nagasaki due to Israel's exclusion from the event. The ceremony, which commemorates the atomic bombing of the city in 1945, will be held in the Nagasaki Peace Park and will be attended by diplomats from more than 100 countries. The decision to exclude Israel was made by the mayor of Nagasaki, Shiro Suzuki, citing security concerns. This decision has drawn criticism from several Western nations, who warned of possible consequences for the attendance of their own ambassadors.
The peace ceremony marks the moment the US dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan during World War II, leading to Japan's unconditional surrender and the end of the war. However, the bombings also resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, both immediately and in the years that followed from radiation sickness. Each year, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hold memorials attended by diplomats to promote global peace and the belief that nuclear weapons should never be used again.
Nagasaki's decision contrasts with that of Hiroshima, which invited Israel's ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, to its ceremony. However, his presence was met with protests by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
In response to the exclusion, a spokesman for the US embassy stated that the ambassador had written to the mayor of Nagasaki, expressing his opinion that the decision was political. As a result, he has chosen to attend a peace ceremony at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo and observe a moment of silence at the embassy. Other US consulates in Japan have been ordered to do the same.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that while the foreign ministry had been in contact with Nagasaki to explain international affairs, local authorities ultimately make decisions about the events they host.
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