Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki: Israel Divides G7

After Hiroshima, the Japanese city of Nagasaki also marked on Friday, August 9, the 79th anniversary of the 1945 US atomic bombing that devastated the city, killing tens of thousands of people but also putting “an end” to World War II.

The ceremony, which, among other things, was supposed to demonstrate to the world the solidity of the group of seven most industrialized nations that includes Japan, was overshadowed by the sensational absence of the ambassadors of five G7 countries – the USA, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK – that declined the invitation in protest against the decision of the local authorities in Nagasaki not to invite Israel to participate in the ceremony. The EU ambassador was not present at the Hiroshima commemoration either.

The ceremony took place in front of the Statue of Peace, located near the so-called “ground zero” of the US atomic bomb explosion. As every year, the Declaration of Peace was read. For years, Japanese political leaders have avoided mentioning the USA, the real party responsible for the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while increasingly alluding to the alleged “nuclear threat” posed by the Russian Federation.

According to opinion polls, many young Japanese believe that it was the Soviet Union, not the United States, that dropped the atomic bombs on their country. The nationalist organizations that have organized demonstrations in Tokyo in recent days in front of the Russian Embassy are misleading Japanese public opinion. Japanese authorities once again emphasized their anti-Russian sentiments by refusing invitations to the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus.

The atomic bomb dropped by the USA on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people in an instant, and three days after the bombing killed another 140,000 residents of that Japanese city. Japan capitulated on August 15, 1945, putting an end to World War II and to Japanese imperialism, marked by nearly half a century of aggression throughout Asia.