This year’s ceremony will take place at Nagasaki Peace Park on Friday, where diplomats from more than 100 countries will observe a minute of silence to mark the moment the US dropped the second atomic bomb in Japan during World War II.

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

Envoys from the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. and the European Union signed a joint letter expressing their shared concern about Israel’s exclusion, saying that treating the country on the same level as Russia and Belarus — the only other countries not invited — would be misleading. These two countries have been left off the list because of their invasion of Ukraine.

Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki on Thursday said his decision not to invite Israel is unchanged despite announcements by the U.S. and five other Group of Seven countries and the European Union that they will send lower-ranked envoys instead of ambassadors to the ceremony.

“We only want to hold the ceremony in a peaceful and solemn atmosphere” to honour the atomic bomb victims, Suzuki said. “It is absolutely not because of political reasons.”

“It is unfortunate that ambassadors won’t be able to join us this year, but I hope they will attend from next year,” Suzuki added.

Suzuki had indicated his reluctance in June to invite Israel, noting the escalating conflict in the Middle East. He announced last week that Israel was not invited because of concern over “possible unforeseen situations” such as protests, sabotage or attacks on attendees.

Suzuki said he made the decision based on “various developments in the international community in response to the ongoing situation in the Middle East” that suggested a possible risk that the ceremony would be disturbed. “Aug. 9 is the most important day for Nagasaki City ... and we must not let the ceremony 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, though Palestinian representatives were not invited.

(With AP Inputs)