Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. The Hiroshima prefectural government is being questioned for canceling invites for Russia and Belarus to join the annual peace ceremony on the anniversary of the atomic bombing in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while Israel has been invited despite the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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quote of the day
We are not saying that one war is good and the other is bad.
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JeffLee
Not a comparison. In the first one, a large country unilaterally invaded its much smaller neighbor to take and subjugate its people and territory. In the other, one was attacked and is now relentlessly pursuing the perpetrators, without such territorial ambitions.
dagon
Because then the entire Japanese post war LDP narrative would collapse.
Can't have the wartime militarists and Imperial government portrayed as a force for unarguable evil like the German Nazi government.
Hello Kitty 321
As it is a ‘peace ceremony’ then surely they should say that all wars are bad.
Moonraker
Hypocrisy is the stock-in-trade of any peace observance in Japan.
Gene Hennigh
As to their saying not one war is good and the other bad is not to say they would prefer wars at all. Granted, the situation might be to ban Israel or to accept Russia (I vote to include Russia). The way this all shapes out in society and politics has a lot to do with it.
Wick's pencil
What they are saying is that they obey their US master.
divinda
Huh??!! The entire Israeli-Palestine conflict is specifically and solely about the territorial ambitions of both sides, and this has been the basis of their destructive and deadly contention for decades... if not centuries... if not millennia.
Ricky Kaminski13
Never try and explain yourself to the mob Mr Mayor. It’s impossible, just do the right thing and own it.
kohakuebisu
The fact that he is even mentioning this shows that Israeli exceptionalism is wearing thin.
Last year and years before, Israel had "occupied territories", which are what you get from fighting people. The mayor is only justifying Israel's presence at the ceremony now because other countries, and I hope ordinary Japanese themselves, are speaking up about Israel. There is no way the average Japanese supports the bombing of apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, and refugee centers or shooting civilians with snipers.