「イスラエル招待されるべき」　大使の長崎式典欠席で―米国務省

　【ワシントン時事】米国務省のミラー報道官は８日の記者会見で、米欧６カ国の駐日大使が長崎原爆の日の平和祈念式典に参列しないことについて、「他国の大使と同じく、イスラエル大使も式典に招待されることが重要だと考える。だからこそ、（エマニュエル駐日米）大使はそのような措置を取った」と説明した。
　長崎市は、パレスチナ自治区ガザで戦闘を続けるイスラエルを式典に招待していない。
　報道官はまた、米国が長崎に原爆を投下した歴史的な責任を問われて、「何人もの米大統領が言及し、厳粛な行事に出席してきた。平和式典へのわれわれの立場と日本に対する敬意は文書に明記されており、大使が一つの行事に参列しなかったことに影響されるものではない」と述べた。（2024/08/09-08:56）

The United States thinks that Israel should be invited to an annual peace ceremony in the atomic-bombed city of Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
   Nagasaki has not invited Israel, which is engaged in fighting with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to this year's ceremony Friday, prompting the ambassadors to Japan of all of Tokyo's Group of Seven partners, including U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, to decide to skip the event.
   "We thought it was important that the Israeli ambassador be invited as the ambassadors of other countries have been invited...and that's why the (U.S.) ambassador took the step that he did," the spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said at a press conference.
   Nagasaki was flattened by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, in the closing days of World War II.
   Asked about the United States' historic responsibility of the atomic bombing, Miller responded: "Obviously multiple different presidents of the United States have spoken to this, have attended events commemorating that solemn event. And I think our position on it and our respect for Japan when it comes to this anniversary is well documented and goes beyond--far beyond the ambassador not attending one event."