Western betrayal: How Nagasaki snub exposes hypocrisy on Gaza genocide

On Friday, Japan marked the anniversary of one of the greatest genocides in human history - the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the United States 79 years ago.

But ambassadors from the US and several other Western countries cancelled their plans to attend the event after learning Israel was not invited over security concerns.

This show of unequivocal support for Israel is nothing short of Western hypocrisy and a failure by the US to grasp the magnitude of its crimes in Japan as well as Gaza.

The snub also made plain that many of the world's leading countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, as well as the European Union, continue to view Israel as a "moral state" that deserves to attend genocide memorials despite massacring at least 40,000 Palestinians over the past 10 months.

Japan and Gaza

The war on Gaza has been of particular interest to people in Japan after what they suffered during World War II. Each year, the country along with the world marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki as a catastrophe for humanity.

1945 was the first time in history that cities were attacked with nuclear weapons. The outcome was so horrific that nations around the world pledged to never again use such weapons.

In Nagasaki, an estimated 74,000 Japanese civilians died from the blast, with the scale of suffering constituting war crimes, state terrorism and genocide. The bombing was a deliberate attempt by the US to ensure that Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies during World War II.

Japanese city Hiroshima was also bombed and suffered a staggering toll of an estimated 140,000 deaths. Israeli officials were invited to this city's memorial ceremony this year but were greeted by many protesters.

Saul Takahashi, professor of human rights and peace studies at Osaka Jogakuin University, told Anadolu Agency that the Nagasaki memorial aimed to be peace-focused.

So "how can it be that a country that has been found by the International Court of Justice to plausibly be committing genocide ... How can we invite them? This is outrageous," he said.

Hypocrisy revealed

Unfortunately, Western countries are failing to see the double standard apparent in their actions.

The countries who snubbed the ceremony are the same nations who have long championed global nuclear non-proliferation and holding those committing genocide across the world to account.

The United States for example signed and ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 and aided victims of genocide such as Rohingya refugees in Myanmar.

However, the same US has had its ambassador skip the Nagasaki memorial ceremony while supporting Israel's genocide of Gaza through planned military sales worth $18 billion.

Similarly, Germany which was responsible for the Holocaust is facing a genocide case from Nicaragua, over weapons sales to Israel, yet its ambassador has skipped the Nagasaki memorial ceremony.

The United States has also turned a blind eye to Israel's modernisation of nuclear capabilities despite orchestrating the destruction of Nagasaki with nuclear weapons in 1945 itself.

US exceptionalism

So why is the US backing Israel and letting it get away with genocide? This is due to inherent thinking among US leaders that Israel's right to retaliate against Palestinians poses less of a threat to Middle Eastern peace than countries such as Iran.

Even if the Middle East erupts and Iran goes to war with Israel, the US has said it would support Israel with arms sales and diplomatic support while calling Tehran the aggressor.

For decades, the American strategic calculus on Israel has been based on sympathising with a state which bore the brunt of the Holocaust (perpetrated by Western powers) and is thus entitled to respond to threats (real or perceived) in a disproportionate manner.

This, alongside the American wariness of Arab and Muslim countries and the general "hostile" neighbourhood where Israel is, helps to explain Washington's historic silence on Israeli atrocities and its ironclad relationship with Israel.

Strikingly, Americans today still debate whether nuclear weapons should even have been used against Japan, though a majority do support the historic move.

Though its relationship with Japan has evolved, the United States and many of its people appear to have had no moral awakening after Nagasaki. Similarly, it lacks moral clarity on Israel, which hints at US exceptionalism and selective condemnation.

But this view is fundamentally flawed, and cannot detract from the evident parallels between the bombing of Nagasaki and the genocide in Gaza.

Striking parallels

Western countries seem to be ignoring the fact that there exist similarities between what unfolded in Nagasaki and what is unfolding in Gaza. Barring the usage of nuclear weapons, Israel's genocide is also aimed at eliminating the Palestinian people, with at least 40,000 deaths reported since October 2023.

In just one month's time, from October to November of 2023, Israel dropped close to 25,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, which is equivalent to the weight of two nuclear bombs.

The massive scale of destruction in Gaza is precisely why the International Court of Justice stated that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide.

The havoc wrought on the two Japanese cities, as well as of Gaza, also all stand in violation of the United Nations Convention on Genocide which highlights the deliberate infliction of life conditions on an ethnic, racial and religious group to bring about its destruction.

After supporting 10 months of Israel's war on Gaza, the US and its allies have truly sunk to a new low in snubbing the Nagasaki memorial ceremony.

The selective outrage has been abominable, and Nagasaki and Gaza deserve much more.