Nagasaki marked the 79th anniversary of its atomic bombing at the end of World War II at a ceremony Friday eclipsed by the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city's refusal to invite Israel.Mayor Shiro Suzuki, in a speech at Nagasaki Peace Park, called for nuclear weapon states and those under their nuclear umbrellas, including Japan, to abolish the weapons.맥스카지노�You must face up to the reality that the very existence of nuclear weapons poses an increasing threat to humankind, and you must make a brave shift toward the abolition of nuclear weapons,맥스카지노� Suzuki said.He warned that the world faces 맥스카지노�a critical situation맥스카지노� because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accelerating conflicts in the Middle East.The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.Speaking at Friday's ceremony, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated his pledge to pursue a nuclear-free world. His critics, many of them atomic bomb survivors, or hibakusha, say it's a hollow promise as Japan relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella while building up its own military.At 11:02 a.m., the moment the plutonium bomb exploded above the southern Japanese city, participants observed a moment of silence as a peace bell tolled.More than 2,000 people, including representatives from 100 countries, attended Friday's ceremony. But ambassadors from the U.S. and five other Group of Seven nations 맥스카지노� Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. 맥스카지노� and the European Union were absent. Their governments sent lower-ranking envoys in response to Suzuki's decision not to invite Israel.They said that treating Israel like Russia and Belarus, which also were not invited, was misleading.U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel instead attended a ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo honoring the Nagasaki atomic bombing victims, joined by his Israeli and British counterparts, Gilad Cohen and Julia Longbottom.맥스카지노�We are obviously in Tokyo but that doesn맥스카지노�t mean we don맥스카지노�t have a responsibility to think and to reflect and to remember맥스카지노� what happened 79 years ago in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Emanuel said.Suzuki denied that his decision to exclude Israel was political, and said he feared that possible 맥스카지노�unforeseeable situations맥스카지노� such as violent protests over the war in Gaza might disrupt the ceremony. Suzuki, whose parents are hibakusha, said the Aug. 9 anniversary is the most important day for Nagasaki and must be commemorated in a peaceful and solemn environment.Emanuel disagreed.맥스카지노�I think it was a political decision, not one based on security, given the prime minister맥스카지노�s attendance,맥스카지노� which required high security, Emanuel told reporters.He said excluding Israel drew "a moral equivalency between Russia and Israel, one country that invaded versus one country that was a victim of invasion,맥스카지노� and that 맥스카지노�my attendance would respect that political judgment, and I couldn맥스카지노�t do that.맥스카지노�Cohen, in a statement on the social media platform X, expressed his 맥스카지노�gratitude to all the countries that have chosen to stand with Israel and oppose its exclusion from the Nagasaki Peace Ceremony. Thank you for standing with us on the right side of history.맥스카지노�The anniversary comes shortly after the United States and Japan reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to provide 맥스카지노�extended deterrence맥스카지노� under its nuclear umbrella for Japan amid growing tension in the region. That is a shift from Japan맥스카지노�s previous reluctance to openly discuss its protection under the nuclear umbrella as the world맥스카지노�s only country to have suffered atomic attacks.