Israel will not be invited to this year’s peace ceremony commemorating the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki to promote a “peaceful and somber atmosphere” at the August 9 event, the city’s mayor told local media Wednesday. Both cities had been under pressure from activists and bomb survivor groups to exclude Israel due to its actions in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed since Israeli began targeting militant group Hamas following the October 7 attack. Nagasaki’s mayor Shiro Suzuki told reporters Wednesday that Israel’s exclusion was due to security concerns and was not a political decision. “I would like to emphasize that this decision was not based on political considerations, but rather on our desire to hold the ceremony to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombings in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere, and to ensure that the ceremony goes smoothly,” he said, calling the decision “difficult.”…
