City officials in Hiroshima have been facing increased calls to disinvite Israel from the annual commemoration of the atomic bombing that destroyed the city in 1945.
The annual commemoration marks the exact moment when the first atomic bomb dropped, killing tens of thousands.
Several pro-Palestine groups and atomic victims groups have called for Israel to be excluded from the commemoration, citing the war in Gaza and the exclusion of Russia and Belarus since 2022.
But Hiroshima authorities told CNN that they have no intention of excluding Israel, saying, "It is not a double standard. Our policy is to invite all countries. However, Russia and Belarus are exceptions due to the invasion of Ukraine."
"Why invite Israel if they are committing genocide-like crimes, just like Russia and Belarus?" said Tetsuji Kumada, executive director of Hiroshima’s Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization, told CNN.
Hiroshima-Palestine Vigil Community also opposed Israel's presence, saying that "current global protests against Israel clearly outnumber those against Russia in both scale and frequency."
In its invitation to Israel, the Hiroshima city government implored Israel to cease its offensive, according to Japanese media.
A double standard?
115 countries and the European Union are expected to attend Hiroshima's memorial event.
The Permanent General Mission of Palestine in Tokyo told CNN that its envoy was never invited to the ceremony.
They complained on X, formerly Twitter, calling the decision "a double standard."
Nagasaki, the second city hit by an atomic bomb at the end of the Second World War, told CNN that they had not decided whether to invite Israel or not.