Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is outraged by reports that Canada’s Ambassador to Japan will be boycotting Friday’s memorial service for the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki over the fact that Israel was not invited. The City of Nagasaki had declined to invite the Israeli Ambassador, whose government is involved in the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. CJPME agrees that the presence of Israel, whose current Ministers have called for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza, would be completely inappropriate, and condemns Canada for this deeply offensive diplomatic statement.

“We condemn this grotesque political stunt by Canada. Boycotting the Nagasaki memorial service to protest the exclusion of Israel, a state which is actively committing genocide, is incredibly disrespectful to the civilian victims of mass killing in both Japan and Gaza,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of CJPME. “It is absurd that Canada is standing up for Israel’s right to attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of the United States’ nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, while its ministers casually call for dropping the same weapons on civilians in Gaza. Canada is demonstrating that its priority is not a ceasefire but defending the sensibilities and reputation of a genocidal regime,” Bueckert added.

The Associated Press reports that Canada will be joining other Western countries including France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the EU, and the US in sending a political statement to Nagasaki by refusing to send Ambassadors to the event and will only send “lower-ranking envoys.” The countries reportedly signed a joint letter complaining that Israel was being treated similarly to Russia and Belarus, who were also not invited, and urged Nagasaki to reverse its decision and invite Israel.

Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has killed nearly 40,000 people since October 7, including over 15,000 children, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble. According to an article in the Lancet, the total number of Palestinians killed by the war through both direct and indirect means is conservatively estimated at 186,000 people. Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has proposed dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza as an option, as have other members of the government, while other Ministers have made similar genocidal statements.

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