War on Gaza overshadows Japan's commemoration of US nuclear bombing

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Pro-Palestine voices overshadowed Japan’s commemoration of US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on Tuesday, various social media posts showed.

Slogans, demonstrations and calls against Israel were held in Hiroshima and other parts of the country, as Japan remembered victims of US nuclear bombing during World War II.

The US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima, the site of the world's first atomic bombing, on Aug. 6, 1945, and then Nagasaki on Aug. 9, resulting in the deaths of at least 140,000 people by the end of that year.

This year, Japan is commemorating 79th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing and participants at a peace event in Hiroshima observed a moment of silence at around 8.15 a.m. (2315GMT, Monday), the time when US dropped the nuclear bomb on Japan, this day in 1945.

However, pro-Palestine and peace activists assembled near the commemoration site in Hiroshima to protest local administration’s invite to Israeli officials, reminding the officials that Tel Aviv was engaged in war on Gaza which has resulted in nearly 40,000 deaths of Palestinians since Oct. 7 last year.

According to a social media user @hiroshima_mai on X, people gathered near the event venue, seeking an end to Israel's invasion of Gaza.

Several videos and photos of pro-Palestine events in Japan were shared, with people seeking a cease-fire in besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Another social media user @toshobin, said pro-Palestine activists held a rally in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome.

Police had placed iron fences and inspection gates to keep the protesters away.

“War continues all over the world... Men, women, children and the elderly are being shot through with bullets or blown to pieces by missiles,” said the Hiroshima governor while the TV channels were showing the participation of Israeli ambassador at the event, according to an X user @horiris.

- War on Gaza 'shattering normal life," says mayor

While refusing to heed calls to withdraw Israeli officials from the “peace event,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, however, said: “Russia's protracted invasion of Ukraine and the worsening situation between Israel and Palestine are claiming the lives of countless innocent people, shattering normal life.”

Hiroshima’s invite to Israel has been slammed as double standards as Japan has refused to invite Russia and Belarus since Moscow launched its war on Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

It has not invited any representative from Palestinian Embassy either.

Ambassador Waleed Siam, however, has been invited to virtually address an alternate peace event.

“It seems to me that these global tragedies are deepening distrust and fear among nations, reinforcing the public assumption that, to solve international problems, we have to rely on military force, which we should be rejecting,” he added.

Since Japan was the only nation to be hit by nuclear bombing, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it was Tokyo’s “duty” to “steadily work toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons.”

According to @kojiskojis social media user on X, some pro-Palestine protesters in Tokyo also held placards, urging boycott of the Israeli products.

A “die-in” protest was also held outside Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, according to @mkimpo_kid.

The protest was held around the same time when moments of silence were observed in Hiroshima to commemorate the victims of US nuclear bombing.