A scene from the ceremony -- image via X
By Michael Laxer
In a truly shameful decision, ambassadors from the United States, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union refused to attend a ceremony in Nagasaki August 9 marking the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb there by the US due to the city's decision not to invite the Israeli ambassador.
Shiro Suzuki, the mayor of Nagasaki, announced in June that Israel would not be invited to attend unless there was a ceasefire in Gaza.
That it would be inappropriate to invite a state engaged in what has been widely deemed a genocidal assault to an anti-war event held in what is called the Peace Park you would have thought would be an obviously morally correct and reasonable decision. But clearly not to those countries who have helped provide diplomatic cover for Israel's conduct as well as supplying the country with the weaponry they need to continue the slaughter.
In fact, on the very day of the ceremony the Biden administration announced the approval of $3.5 billion in military funds for Israel and shipments for new weaponry, mere hours before an Israeli bombing of a school-turned-shelter in Gaza killed at least 100 people in yet another mass slaughter.
While the absence of Israel's greatest enabler the US should hardly come as a surprise the boycott by Canada show that are again falling in line as an imperial bootlick as does the decision by the UK where little has changed under the reactionary leadership of Keir Starmer.
On a more positive note the ceremony was attended by some 2,300 participants, including representatives from some 100 countries which displayed at least something of a greater basic moral compass by showing up.
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