Japanese Communists defend decision excluding Israel from atomic bomb peace ceremony

Doves fly over the Peace Statue during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing at the Peace Park in Nagasaki, southern Japan. | Kyodo News via AP

NAGASAKI, Japan—Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira said at a press conference in Nagasaki on Aug. 9 that the city’s decision not to invite Israel to its annual peace ceremony “should not be criticized.”

Koike said this when asked by reporters about the exclusion of Israeli government representatives from the peace event held to commemorate the day that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city in 1945. The attack is estimated to have killed at least 74,000 people, both in the initial blast and via radiation afterward.

He noted that the Nagasaki City mayor explained that the decision was made to “ensure the smooth running of the ceremony” as the organizer of the event. He added, “This explanation is reasonable and should not be criticized.”

Israel’s military assault in Gaza is deeply unpopular in Japan, where the majority of people are strongly anti-war. Protests were expected if Israeli officials had been present.

When the city announced in mid-July that Israel would not be invited, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union dispatched a letter to Nagasaki officials saying “it would become difficult for us to have high-level participation” in the event.

The Japanese Communist Party criticized the Western imperialist countries for snubbing the people of Nagasaki. Koike said, “The British ambassador says the reason for her absence is that Israel, unlike Russia, is just exercising its right to self-defense.” He added, “This is clearly a double standard.”

Pointing out that the Israeli attack on Gaza is an inhumane campaign of genocide in violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, the Communist leader said, “It is absolutely unacceptable for the U.S., Britain, and other countries that agree with them to justify the Israeli act as just an exercise of the right of self-defense.”

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CONTRIBUTOR

Shimbun Akahata

Shimbun Akahata (しんぶん赤旗) is the daily newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party.