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00:00As Japan remembered the tens of thousands killed by the U.S. atomic bomb in Nagasaki
00:0579 years ago, the American ambassador was conspicuous by his absence.
00:11This after the city's mayor made the controversial choice not to invite the Israeli ambassador,
00:17citing the risk of an unexpected situation arising.
00:22This decision is absolutely not a political one.
00:25It's only so that we can conduct the ceremony smoothly, under a solemn atmosphere.
00:32Ambassador Gilad Cohen attended the memorial event in Hiroshima three days earlier and
00:36said the Nagasaki mayor had hijacked the ceremony for political motivations.
00:41The countries of the G7 joined him in the backlash and penned a joint letter saying
00:46the snub treated Israel as on par with Russia and Belarus, the only other countries not
00:51invited to send their ambassadors.
00:53Cohen saying they would boycott the ceremony.
00:56I think it was a political decision, not one based on security, given the prime minister
01:00is in attendance.
01:02The U.S. ambassador made sure to be filmed praying for Nagasaki at a separate religious
01:06service.
01:07The United States dropped two bombs on Japan in August 1945, the aim ostensibly to end
01:13World War II.
01:15The first in Hiroshima killed around 140,000 and three days later came Nagasaki killing
01:2170,000 more.
01:22Both were controversial, especially the second, as many argue that Japan were already preparing
01:28to surrender after the first.