Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Representatives of Hiroshima atomic-bomb survivors and anti-nuclear groups visited the Hiroshima City government to lodge a protest over the city’s plan to invite an Israeli official to the August 6 A-Bomb Day ceremony hosted by the city.

The city intends to invite an Israeli representative to the ceremony but will not invite Russian and Belarusian representatives for the third successive year. “This decision is a double standard and sends a message to the world that Hiroshima condones Israel’s genocide,” YUASA Masae of the Hiroshima Palestine Solidarity Community told city officials.

According to Hiroshima City, they have received over a thousand protest emails, including messages such as “Do not invite Israel” and “If you invite Israel, you should also invite Russia.”

Leaders of the Hiroshima Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), the Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo), and the Hiroshima local of the Association for a Peaceful, Democratic and Progressive Japan (Hiroshima Kakushinkon) accused the local government of double standards.

In a written request to City Mayor MATSUI Kazumi, they said, “The city’s plan will give a bad impression of Hiroshima, which is designated as an international city of peace and culture.”

They criticized the mayor’s attitude for being inappropriate as the president of Mayors for Peace and asked him to “strongly urge Russia and Israel to cease military operations immediately.”

Regarding the invitation to Israel, Mayor Matsui said, “I want to adhere to the principle of inviting them just like any other country,” while explaining that Russia will not be invited because it “could affect the smooth conduct of the ceremony.”

On Wednesday, the annual airing of the “Register of the A-bomb Dead” took place at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. At 8:15 AM, the time the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, the workers observed a moment of silence. Currently, 125 volumes containing the names of 339,227 A-bomb victims are stored in the cenotaph.