Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A demonstration supporting Palestine and condemning Hiroshima City and Israel was held in Tokyo on Saturday evening under the banner “Israel is not welcome in Hiroshima.”

The Mayor of Hiroshima city, MATSUI Kazumi, has invited Israel to the ceremony planned for August 6 that commemorates the atomic bombing in 1945. Russia and Belarus were excluded “due to their actions against Ukraine.” Palestine was also excluded from the invitation, stirring a strong protest from Arab diplomats and Japanese and non-Japanese activists.

Demonstrations have been held in various parts of Japan every week to protest the invitation and to condemn Israel’s military genocide in Gaza and its repression of the Palestinian people in the West Bank.

As the first victim of an atomic in the history of humanity, Hiroshima and its citizens are sensitive to genocide committed by military powers against civilians like the one they witnessed by the American bomb at the closing days of WW2.

“Mayor of Hiroshima,(MATSUI Kazumi) Shame on you,” was one of the slogans raised by demonstrators in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District. 

In June, Nagasaki Mayor SUZUKI Shiro said he was withholding an invitation to Israel to attend the city’s annual peace ceremony on August 9. He also called on Israel to accept an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Nagasaki was struck by an American atomic bomb three days after Hiroshima’s bombing. A Palestinian representative is invited to Nagasaki.

On Saturday, demonstrators shouted for Israel to stop massacring Palestinians in Gaza and for an immediate ceasefire there. They also called on the international community to impose sanctions against Israel.

“Japan has economic and military cooperation with Israel. Please stop that and stop slaughtering the Palestinians,” one demonstrator shouted. 

Protesters also asked, “Why invite Israel who is committing genocide-like crimes?”

Others held up banners saying, “Stop the killing in Gaza,” and “Free Palestine Now!” “Israel is a terrorist state,” “Don’t buy arms from Israel,” and “Don’t invite Israel, who is committing atrocities, to Hiroshima.”