Japan, Gaza is not Nagasaki – opinion
It also appears that Japan may expand such sanctions, with the real target being the existence of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.
By Morton A. Klein
(August 21, 2024 / J Post) In recent weeks, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki excluded Israel’s ambassador to Japan from an important event and made pro-Hamas calls for an immediate ceasefire; Japan’s government imposed sanctions against innocent Israelis, emulating the Biden-Harris administration’s antisemitic sanctions; and the Biden-Harris administration issued a joint statement with Japan, India, and Australia, calling for a ceasefire, a Palestinian terror state, and harmful UN “reforms.”
It’s bad enough that the Biden-Harris administration constantly pressures Israel to, in effect, lose the war to eliminate Hamas’s terror army, which would enable Hamas to carry out its threat to perpetrate more October 7 slaughters; constantly promotes a Palestinian terror state on Israel’s lawful and historic land; and maligns and sanctions Jews living in Judea and Samaria. However, having nations such as Japan follow suit is another low.
In addition to refusing to invite Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen to the event commemorating the anniversary of the U.S. dropping a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, using the specious excuse of security risks, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza without demanding the immediate release of the hostages. He also absurdly compared the suffering in Gaza to the suffering experienced by the Japanese during the bombing of Nagasaki.
Gaza is no Nagasaki. Israel has not dropped atomic bombs on Gaza or caused hundreds of thousands of Gazan deaths, even though Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah terrorists, and thousands of similarly cruel accompanying Gaza civilians inflicted unspeakable horrors on innocent Israeli babies, children, women, men, and the elderly on October 7. Instead, Israel is fighting against vicious Hamas terrorists while taking extraordinary care to avoid civilian Gazan casualties, putting Israel’s brave soldiers at great risk.
Interestingly, according to a 2015 Pew Research poll, a majority of Americans still believe that dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. A 2020 book posits that dropping the atomic bombs ultimately saved 32 million lives, including over a million allied troops. The A-bombs caused the Japanese surrender; ended Japan’s brutal aggression and deadly kamikaze attacks; and saved Japan from carpet bombing and an invasion that would not have spared civilians in the humane way that Israel does.
Hypocritically, U.S. and Japanese leaders are ignoring the significant number of Jewish, Druze, Christian, and Muslim lives that could be saved if Israel successfully destroys Hamas’s terror army through its civilian-sparing operation. Instead, the U.S. and Japan are demanding a ceasefire that allows Hamas to survive and rebuild, which is likely to cause at least thousands of deaths of Israelis and others.
Japan’s sanctions on Israelis
On July 23, Japan announced sanctions and asset freezes against four Israelis. It also appears that Japan may expand such sanctions, with the real target being the existence of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated, “Japan will steadily implement these asset-freezing measures and continue to strongly urge the Israeli government to completely freeze settlement activities in cooperation with the international community, including the G7.”
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that the freeze on assets and capital transactions was “for the purpose of contributing to the international efforts for achieving international peace” and “in view of the measures taken by other major countries.”
Japan copied the Biden-Harris administration’s despicable sanctions against innocent Israeli farmers and others while those brave Israelis are fighting Hamas terrorists. It is appalling that Biden-Harris – and the foreign governments they prompted to do the same (the UK, France, and now Japan) – are sanctioning Israelis instead of real terrorists and real impediments to peace – namely, the thousands of Palestinian Arabs who stab, throw boulders and Molotov cocktails, ram into, and shoot innocent Israelis multiple times every day in Judea and Samaria and all of Israel.
The Quad statement
On July 29, after meeting in Tokyo, the foreign ministers of Japan, India, and Australia, along with U.S. Secretary of State Blinken (the “Quad” – perhaps they should now be called the “Squad”) issued a joint statement calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and Gaza’s reconstruction. In other words, let Hamas survive and rebuild. While the Quad’s statement perfunctorily called for the release of all the hostages, it did not call for their “immediate” release.
The Quad’s statement also called for “a sovereign, viable, and independent Palestinian state” and a “two-state solution,” meaning an Iranian-proxy terror state on land to which Israel has the sovereign right. In addition, the Quad called for an end to “Israeli expansion of settlements” – an antisemitic call for Jews not to live in the Jewish homeland – and an end to “violent extremism on all sides.” The “violent extremism” in fact comes from one side, which is the daily barrage of deadly Palestinian Arab terror attacks on Jews, incited and incentivized by the Palestinian Authority’s large “pay to slay” salaries to Arabs who murder Jews.
Harmful UN ‘reforms’
The Quad’s July 29 joint statement also “committed to advancing a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through the expansion of permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council” and “active and constructive engagement in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) process on Security Council reforms.”
What does this mean? A separate document published by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs setting forth proposed UN “reforms” states that “the veto should be abolished, but so long as it exists, it should be extended to all members, including the new permanent members.” Abolishing the veto – or expanding the nations that can use it – would undermine U.S. power and damage both Israel and the US.
Since October 7, the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly failed to veto – and thereby enabled – the passage of anti-Israel UNSC resolutions, including Resolutions 2712 (Nov. 14, 2023), 2720 (Dec. 22, 2023), and 2728 (Mar. 25, 2024), calling for an “immediate ceasefire” on Ramadan – leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire and without making the ceasefire conditional on the hostages’ release.
However, the current administration’s failure to employ the veto is no reason to eliminate it or water it down. Eliminating or reducing U.S. veto power would severely damage any future pro-Israel administration’s ability to curb the UNSC from harming Israel.
Japan’s UN reform proposals also call for increasing the antisemitic UN Security Council’s power to “effectively” “implement its decisions.” This would enable the UNSC to take dangerous steps to implement its demand for an immediate pro-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza,
It is extremely concerning that the Biden-Harris administration is making joint UN reform statements with countries that call for abolishing the veto. It is also concerning that the U.S. administration’s unilateral statements, while not specifically mentioning the veto, promote “accelerating” UN reforms and expanding UNSC powers to more countries, which would water down U.S. power at the UNSC.
Morton A. Klein is the national president of the Zionist Organization of America.
This op-ed was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and can be viewed here.