JAPAN – The mayor of Nagasaki has defended his decision not to invite Israel to Friday’s memorial for those killed in 1945’s atomic bombing ,after ambassadors from countries including the United States and the United Kingdom said they would no longer attend the event. “It is unfortunate that they have communicated to us that their ambassadors are not able to attend,” Shiro Suzuki told reporters on Thursday.

“We made a comprehensive decision not for political reasons. We want to conduct a smooth ceremony in a peaceful and solemn environment.” On August 9, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people including many who survived the explosion but died later from radiation exposure. The attack came three days after the US dropped the world’s first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima killing 140,000 people and devastating the city.

Japan announced its surrender on August 15, 1945, ending World War II and the country’s nearly half-century of aggression in Asia. The US embassy announced on Wednesday that Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel would skip the Nagasaki memorial, because Israel’s exclusion had “politicized” the event. Nagasaki officials said they were told that an official of the US consulate in Fukuoka will represent the US at Friday’s ceremony. Five other Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK — as well as the European Union, are also expected to send lower-ranking envoys to Nagasaki.

Envoys from those nations signed a joint letter expressing their shared concern about Israel’s exclusion, saying treating the country on the same level as Russia and Belarus — the only other countries not invited — would be misleading. (Aljazeera)…[+]