TOKYO (AP) – U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel will not attend this year’s atomic bomb memorial service in Nagasaki on Friday because Israel was not invited, the embassy said.

Emanuel will not attend the event because it has been “politicized” by Nagasaki’s decision not to invite Israel, the embassy said.

Instead, he will commemorate the victims of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki at a ceremony in a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, it was said.

An atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people. A second bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later killed another 70,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II and the country’s nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said on Thursday his decision not to invite Israel remains unchanged, despite announcements by the United States and five other G7 countries and the European Union that they would send lower-ranking envoys to the ceremony instead of ambassadors.

“We just want to hold the ceremony in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere” to honor the victims of the atomic bombings, Suzuki said. “There are absolutely no political reasons for this.”

“It is unfortunate that the ambassadors cannot be there this year, but I hope they can be there starting next year,” Suzuki added.

Suzuki had indicated in June that he did not want to invite Israel, citing the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Last week he announced that Israel was not invited because of fears of “possible unforeseen situations” such as protests, sabotage or attacks on participants.

Suzuki said he made the decision due to “various developments in the international community in response to the ongoing situation in the Middle East” that suggested a possible risk of disruption to the ceremony. “August 9 is the most important day for the city of Nagasaki … and we must not allow the ceremony to be affected,” he said.

In contrast, Hiroshima invited the Israeli ambassador to Japan to its memorial ceremony on Tuesday, which was attended by 50,000 people, including Emanuel and other envoys. However, Palestinian representatives were not invited.

Officials in Nagasaki said they had been informed that an official from the U.S. consulate in Fukuoka would represent the United States at Friday’s ceremony.

Envoys from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the European Union signed a joint letter expressing shared concern over Israel’s exclusion, saying it would be misleading to treat the country on the same level as Russia and Belarus – the only other countries not invited.

The envoys called on Nagasaki to reverse its decision and invite Israel to preserve the ceremony’s universal message in the city. Excluding Israel would make their “high-level participation” more difficult, they said.