Western ambassadors shun Nagasaki ceremony over Israel snub

The Japanese city's mayor says the decision to exclude Israel was not political, but will not change.

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The mayor of the south-western Japanese city, Shiro Suzuki, said on Thursday that Israel not being invited to attend was not politically motivated but added there would be no change to the decision.

The remarks come a day after it was revealed that the ambassadors of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the US and the European Union had sent a letter to Nagasaki in mid-July saying "it would become difficult for us to have high-level participation" in the event if Israel was excluded.

The bomb dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 is thought to have killed about 74,000 people, both from the explosion itself and later from radiation.

It came three days after the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima and six days before Japan's surrender in World War II.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clynlxr2lx6o

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