Israeli official suspended for Facebook posts on Hiroshima, Nagasaki victims

Yeah, but it sure was an ignorant and insensitive post.

facebook post ?

?

you have a starving world at hand with all the consequences after that, a facebook post can not be an issue if you're serious

This guy is a piece of work. I can't help getting the feeling that maybe he's overworked and needs to be relived of his duties.

"Seaman took issue with Japan’s commemoration of the Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, arguing that the Japanese were aggressors and therefore reaped what they had sowed; in another he wondered whether the commencement of Ramadan meant “that Muslims will stop eating each other during the day time,” a clear reference to the violence in Egypt. He also sprinkled his posts with four-letter words, although toned down by symbols replacing key letters for decorum's sake"

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/141351/why-danny-seamans-suspension-was-misguided

AS always the truth hurts

JTDanManAug. 17, 2013 - 03:18AM JST I see. Well, we disagree then about Germans culpability in Nazism. And as such, we also disagree about Japanese with Imperial Japan.

This does seem to be the core of our disagreement.

Not many in the West accept your view that Germans were victims of the Nazis. Few, in fact, none in Germany had any difficulty accpepting Goldhaagen's thesis in his seminal work: HITLER'S WiLLING EXECUTIONERS, which argued the Holocaust happened because the German people accepted it.

David North, Hilburg, Guttenplan... these are just a few respected authors who disagree with Goldhagen's thesis in the West. There was quite a lot of opposition and Goldhagen was called a racist on several occasions.

As for nobody in Germany disagreeing, I'm afraid you're mistaken. My German is a bit rusty, but there seems to have been wide-spread opposition to Goldhagen's thesis. You might have the impression that there was no criticism because there was nearly a year between the book being published and it being translated into German, by which time the issue had already died down in most English speaking media.

What further complicates the issue in Germany is that post-WW2 laws were passed making any frank discussion of the events surrounding WW2 very difficult. Any academic seen as being overly sympathetic with the 3rd Reich could be arrested under the charge of incitement. There's still a lot of mixed feeling in Germany over the event surrounding WW2.

I understand your view. You see the people as victims of their governments. I reject that view based on the historical record. Imperial Japan's wars were wildly popular in Japan. As I wrote to begin, no one of good faith who knows the historical record can disagree with this assessment.

With all due respect, how can you make that assertion? Are you in possession of opinion polls from that period? Perhaps surveys conducted by an independent 3rd party? You're not citing historical fact, you're citing historical opinion. There is a sharp difference.

I wonder if you accept that Imperial Japan's annexation of Korea, attack in Manchuria, then China and South East Asi, were all widely popular with the Japanese.

Allow me to sum the issue up with one simple question. Would it have changed anything if these militaristic moves were not popular with the majority of Japanese citizens? The answer, simply and unequivocably is "no". The women's party (a party that nominally represented approximately 51% of the population) was summarily silenced for expressing reservations about the Imperial Government's militaristic agenda. That is a matter of real historical record for anyone to look up and verify. In the U.S. if 51% of the population had been opposed to an idea then politicians would have backed off the issue with speed. In Japan the situation was completely different, and this is something that many Western scholars simply cannot grasp, the completely different political and social mechanics in operation.

The Japanese have always been considered nothing but a band of aboriginal pirates and barbarians who frequently plunder the coastal areas of China and South Korea. So, their insistence that they did no wrong invading and murdering millions in China, South Korea and the rest of Southeast Asia and bombing Pearl Harbour is quite consistent with their description. And, from what has been happening recently their character has not changed despite of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Perhaps if the Japanese generals had continued fighting their losing war despite Nagasaki and Hiroshima there would not be a Japan today to worry about since even more bombs would have to be dropped; perhaps in Tokyo as well. Carry on dreaming those who remain stubbornly refusing to face history.

The Japanese military was bad, the Allied forces were no better.

mikihouse - what your history textbooks didn't teach you were; Rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, Unit 731, the forcible rape of thousands of "comfort" women, disgusting treatment of POWs, etc.

Yes, the Allied forces were MUCH MUCH better. I believe in Karma, and Japan did indeed reap what it sowed.

Eisenhower, McArthur, Nimitz, Leahy.

Nope, nope, nope and nope.

None of these men expressed opposition to using the bomb in or before August, 1945. Not one. All claimed at later times they opposed it. And there is NO EVIDENCE in the historical record to support their later claims.

JTDanManAUG. 17, 2013 - 03:41AM JST There was strong opposition among U.S. military leaders. Name two.

Eisenhower, McArthur, Nimitz, Leahy

Danny Seaman doesn't represent all Israelis, and certainly not all Jews.

Influential Israeli newspaper HaAretz gives further background on this foul-mouthed, former director of the government press office in their article:

Is an abusive racist the best Israeli PR can produce?

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/.premium-1.541269

“(The bombings of) Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow. “Instead, they should be commemorating the estimated 50 million Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Malay, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Burmese and other victims of Japanese imperial aggression and genocide.”

The Japanese have always been considered nothing but a band of aboriginal pirates and barbarians who frequently plunder the coastal areas of China and South Korea. So, their insistence that they did no wrong invading and murdering millions in China, South Korea and the rest of Southeast Asia and bombing Pearl Harbour is quite consistent with their description. And, from what has been happening recently their character has not changed despite of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Perhaps if the Japanese generals had continued fighting their losing war despite Nagasaki and Hiroshima there would not be a Japan today to worry about since even more bombs would have to be dropped; perhaps in Tokyo as well. Carry on dreaming those who remain stubbornly refusing to face history.

Mitch CohenAug. 16, 2013 - 02:19PM JST

His full FB post:

Thanks for the post. Someone needs to send this to Aso so that he will be able to connect dots that his moronic comments on Nazi may be the cause for this uproar. Aso is a loser.

dropping the A bomb is a war crime, it did not just killed hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians, women, children, the survivors has to suffer the effects for generations and even the next generations to come. The bomb just did not end when it exploded, its effect is still felt by hundreds of people.

People dying from cancer, leukemia, bone marrow problems, birth defects, genetic abberrations still happen today because of the A bomb.

The Japanese military was bad, the Allied forces were no better. NO MORE WAR.

Well some people say it just as it is. I feel sorry to all victims of war. Specially the attacked one.

There was strong opposition among U.S. military leaders

Name two.

There was strong opposition among U.S. military leaders to the direction of the bombs against predominately civilian centers without forewarning threatened civilians. There was greater opposition among scientists developing the bomb. In spite of this, a minority of the U.S. leadership, led by Truman, settled on the use of the bombs against civilian centers without forewarning. The Japanese were seeking a negotiated end to the war, and refused the Potsdam declaration. Yet when it came down to actually accepting the terms of Potsdam, they could not do that even after two A-bombs had been used. It took the unprecedented step of Hirohito speaking his mind and ordering that the Potsdam terms be accepted unconditionally.

Most people think they know a lot but judging from the comments not a lot. Who instigated this war? The elite, Rothschild, the US and UK bankers who supported the Nazi and Japanese regimes, and they were the ones who made money out of death and continue to do so. Coca Cola and IBM did mighty fine dealing with the Nazi's but you don't see that in the mainstream media, as did George Bush's grandpa. Conspiracy theory? No, all factual and info can easily found online.

The politicians are 90% scum, mostly sociopaths, same in all nations, that is why we are so divided.

Frungy,

I see. Well, we disagree then about Germans culpability in Nazism. And as such, we also disagree about Japanese with Imperial Japan.

Not many in the West accept your view that Germans were victims of the Nazis. Few, in fact, none in Germany had any difficulty accpepting Goldhaagen's thesis in his seminal work: HITLER'S WiLLING EXECUTIONERS, which argued the Holocaust happened because the German people accepted it.

I understand your view. You see the people as victims of their governments. I reject that view based on the historical record. Imperial Japan's wars were wildly popular in Japan. As I wrote to begin, no one of good faith who knows the historical record can disagree with this assessment.

I wonder if you accept that Imperial Japan's annexation of Korea, attack in Manchuria, then China and South East Asi, were all widely popular with the Japanese.

Wow. This dude is an ass. Last time I checked the citizens did not deserve to be fire bombed like that so the citizens sowed nothing. I understand Aso said something that raised eyebrows but come on. Also would like to note this country is at war with its neighbors Palestine whom they have no problem killing. Man, woman, and children have been getting slaughtered by these dudes so remember you reap what you sow

JTDanManAug. 17, 2013 - 02:16AM JST Thank you for your reply.

And thank you for your considered and courteous replu.

Obviously, we agree that Jews suffered persecution. Implicit in this statement is they suffered through no fault of their own. That is, Jews in Europe were entirely victims.

I do not think this was ever disputed.

What can be argued, and is an open question, is to what degree the public support for Nazi's in Germany and Empire in Japan makes the the populace on the whole culpable for the actions of their government. And the flip-side, what to make of the suffering of the people of Germany and Japan, on the whole.

I am with you up to here.

But that is a nuance entirely absent with statement made like Kurisupisu made. Kurisupisu reduced a complex historical question on the guilt of Japanese for Imperial Japan's war of aggression to: Japanese were victim.

I agree that perhaps Kurisupisu's comment likewise was oversimplified.

It is wrong to do so. We recognize this in the case of Germany, primarily because we understand not only the particularly horror the Nazis embodied, but also the degree that the German people were to blame for allowing a man like Hitler to take over. We would never, and rightfully so, attempt to white-wash the German people of that time for what they did. But many do with Imperial Japan and the Japanese. And they do it by painting the Japanese people as victims of the war.

With all due respect this is where you and I differ. I'm not sure what history books you read, but the Nazi party did everything in its power to keep constitutional reforms, legal changes, the nature of the concentration camps, etc. a closely guarded secret from the majority of German citizens. There was wide-spread censorship in both Japan and Germany, and the same pattern pervaded, an systematic dissolution of any representative government, replaced by a complete and utter despotism, enforced ruthlessly.

It could be argue that the people in Germany and Japan should have been more vigilant and seen the warning signs, but consider the state of modern America. The Patriot Act is nearly identical to constitutional reforms introduced by the Nazi party prior to WW2. There have been complaints (as there were in Germany), but no real groundswell as most people approve of the enhanced security.

I would put it to you that you are judging the people of Germany and Japan in retrospect, not by the standards or information they had access to at the time. One could argue that the people of the U.S. today are far more guilty of complacency than the people of Germany and Japan were 70 years ago, since they had no historical precedent. The U.S. today has a clear historical precedent, and yet does nothing.

They were not simply victims.

I beg to disagree. They were firstly victims of their own governments, which disenfranchised them, oppressed them and deprived them of basic human rights and freedoms. Secondly they were victimized further by military forces of the invading powers through atrocities such as the fire bombings and atomic bombings. Finally they continue to be victimized today by painting all "Japanese" as aggressors, an unfair miscarriage of history and justice.

Japan did not suffer the war; it prosecuted it. The japanese did not suffer the war; they prosecuted it.

This is the fundamental lack of distinction I disagree with. Imperial Japan was not "The Japanese". Imperial Japan was a small cabal of military commanders aided and abetted by the Emperor. "The Japanese" population at the time was a column (not the inverted pyramid we see today), and so statistically speaking, even if one argues that every male between the ages of 16 and 50 participated freely in the atrocities of WW2 (something that I do not think that any historian could reasonably argue) then it still would leave the majority of the population of Japan uninvolved in WW2 (all women, children under the age of 16, men over the age of 50 would comprise more than 65% of the population of Japan).

Therefore to argue that Imperial Japan was "the Japanese" is not sound logic.

He said'' Not to mention nearly 120,000 Allied military casualties who fought to defeat the genocidal Japanese.'' I wonder if he knows and ever thought the reason why before Japan, all those European nations had been every corner every where of Asia except the Japan territory. Every Asian countries were colonies by them. I am not implying here anything here but the during or after WW2, those colonies obtained their independence.

Frungy

Thank you for your reply.

Obviously, we agree that Jews suffered persecution. Implicit in this statement is they suffered through no fault of their own. That is, Jews in Europe were entirely victims.

The same cannot be said of of either the Japanese or the German people. Both Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany prosecuted wars of aggression with broad public support. This fact is as simple as it is incontrovertible. No one of good faith can, upon review of the historical record, deny this.

What can be argued, and is an open question, is to what degree the public support for Nazi's in Germany and Empire in Japan makes the the populace on the whole culpable for the actions of their government. And the flip-side, what to make of the suffering of the people of Germany and Japan, on the whole.

But that is a nuance entirely absent with statement made like Kurisupisu made. Kurisupisu reduced a complex historical question on the guilt of Japanese for Imperial Japan's war of aggression to: Japanese were victim.

It is wrong to do so. We recognize this in the case of Germany, primarily because we understand not only the particularly horror the Nazis embodied, but also the degree that the German people were to blame for allowing a man like Hitler to take over. We would never, and rightfully so, attempt to white-wash the German people of that time for what they did. But many do with Imperial Japan and the Japanese. And they do it by painting the Japanese people as victims of the war.

They were not simply victims.

The simplistic reduction is what I take issue with. But since it was offered, the better reduction is as I framed it:

Japan did not suffer the war; it prosecuted it. The japanese did not suffer the war; they prosecuted it.

JTDanManAug. 17, 2013 - 01:18AM JST Kurisupisu: Your post was strongly downrated. Allow me to explain why: You wrote "Both the Japanese and the Jews suffered immensely."

True.

While many Japanese did indeed suffer, the Japanese caused many others to suffer even more. Jews in Europe didn't. Jews suffered persecution, whereas Japan prosecuted the war.

False. You're over-simplifying the issue to the point where it becomes untrue. The Japanese MILITARY prosecuted the war. The vast majority of Japanese citizens had absolutely no say in the matter, including in whether they got drafted into the military to die in some war they didn't support.

The Japanese citizenry suffered, but not for any good reason. Rather they suffered for the actions of a military dictatorship that they were powerless to oppose.

Most simply put, Imperial Japan is akin to Nazi Germany, not Jews et al victims of Nazi Germany.

Well Nazi Germany is a pretty good example. Secret police and special units standing around terrorising people, people with differing political opinions (like those who supported peace) going missing in the night...

I have a fair number of German friends, and some of them were alive during WW2, and for the most part people were frikkin' terrified... not of the allies, but rather of the German government and what happen if you put a foot out of line... and even if you were perfectly obedient the little snitches in the Hitler Youth would make up something and you'd find yourself dragged away at night for an appointment with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.

I've talked to a lot of older Japanese people too, and they tell similar stories of friends disappearing for saying that the war should end, or even disappearing for the terrible "crime" of saying there was too little food and they were hungry. To this day no-one knows what happened to them.

So please, don't come here with generalizations that make it out that every Japanese person supported the war, and that every German was a Nazi. In both countries it was a small, very vocal, very well armed minority that terrorized the rest of the population. There's a lot to be learned from this, for example look at how a lot of countries are terrorized by a small number of Islamic radicals. The vast majority of Muslims just want to get on with business and their daily lives, but they're too afraid to speak out against the radicals.

Kurisupisu: Your post was strongly downrated. Allow me to explain why:

You wrote "Both the Japanese and the Jews suffered immensely."

While many Japanese did indeed suffer, the Japanese caused many others to suffer even more. Jews in Europe didn't.

Jews suffered persecution, whereas Japan prosecuted the war.

Most simply put, Imperial Japan is akin to Nazi Germany, not Jews et al victims of Nazi Germany.

One of the arguments used by Americans to justify the savage bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is that the alternative, a conventional invasion, would have been more painful. But who said that this was the alternative? Another fallacy is that the crimes committed by Japan in Asian countries were worse. From whence does a crime balance another crime? Did America really care for Asia when it committed this savage crime? If so, why did America invade into a half of Korea immediately after and threatened to nuke the other half?

I doubt most Israelis give a flying you know what about Japanese sentiment although some may have been irked by Aso's perfect example of a politician suffering from mental flatulence. Maybe it's a bit of revenge but my money would be on a man as vacant as Aso rather than one trying to trump him. At the end of the day, Israel hasn't endangered its relationship with the US, perhaps even scored a brownie point, so no real harm done.

Extremely grace country Israel is !!

But they do say them all the time, and people here in this forum and others, as well. They keep saying Korea/China/whoever else, "get over it, we're sick of you complaining". So why does Japan's situation unique? Because they are special people?

Seaman's comments are terrible, it would be the same as if Aso would say something like: “I am sick of the Jews, ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Peace’ groups the world over holding their annual self righteous commemorations for the holocaust" Such comments would be widely (and rightly so) condemned. And just imagine if I continued with the comparison about reaping what you sow.

This is a perfect example of Japan's double standard. As mentioned before, Japanese officials in very powerful positions of authority make very insensitive, condescending, and overall ignorant remarks (Hashimoto and the sex trade comment, Aso and his admiration of Nazi Germany, the UN delegate telling others to "Shut up", the Olympic Bid official saying a bombing like the Boston Marathon couldn't happen in Japan), yet there are no consequences or public outrage.

But then an Israeli official of not much importance shares a legitimate political view on his FB and it's the end of the world. Granted, much of the backlash is coming from the Israeli government being proactive and nipping things in the bud, but still, as long as Japan holds the position that nothing of importance happened between the Meiji Restoration and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, I really can't blame the guy.

Mr. Aso's dumb comments started this whole mess.

How so? Aso never mentioned the holocaust, he only referred to how the German government changed the constitution; and he was aggressively attacked. While it seems Seaman's comments are getting quite a lot of support from posters here. Seaman's comments are terrible, it would be the same as if Aso would say something like: “I am sick of the Jews, ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Peace’ groups the world over holding their annual self righteous commemorations for the holocaust" Such comments would be widely (and rightly so) condemned. And just imagine if I continued with the comparison about reaping what you sow.

I wander what he would said if Isreal would be nuked by, lets say, Iran. 'Reap what you sow'?

The European war was over, and the Soviet Union was moving its troops to Siberia in preparation of an invasion of Hokaido or northern Japan. The Soviet Union could have started its invasion of Japan while America was still getting ready. If the war had not ended before the Soviet Unions invasion of Japan, northern Japan would be speaking Russian now.

If-coulda-woulda-shoulda. Stop spreading your silly pseudo-historical speculations which are so popular mainly among uneducated hillbillies from the USA. The main strategic goal of Soviet offensive in Manchuria was to fight Imperial Kwantung Army, not to invade a Japanese Mainland. Soviet military operations had nothing to do with totally unhuman scientific experiments when Americans dropped two combat nuclear devices on japanese cities, filled by civilians.

In one of his posts published by Haaretz newspaper, Seaman said he was “sick” of “self-righteous” Japanese and international commemorations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims.

A True Face of the Zionism. Try to tell him anything concerning to jews, burned alive and gassed in death camps by Nazis and he will stink till upper layers of stratosphere, playing a victim card....

Thinking of the Palestinian conflict, Seaman probably knows (or does he really?) what he is talking about when using the 'reap what you sow' phrase. He does not have a clue however about the suffering of hundreds of thousands of noncombatants exterminated by the most horrible weapon humans have managed to produce with the intention to use it on humans. I cannot accept the A-bombs were meant to be a retribution for the horrible things that happened in China.

imaging if it's an J right wing nuts said this, is he going to be punished? NO

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow,” he said.

So what's wrong with this remark? It is true. And why is it a "crude comment", as written in Japanese media? So what Aso and Hashimoto say, they not only get to keep their jobs, they are considered heroes in Japan. But this Israeli guy says something true, he's fired.

i'am a jew, but this moron is a disgrace to humanity. his comment against the japanese people as a whole is in tone with the iranian government's style against all jews. this guy's a real sicko, just like aso for his neo-nazism.

sangetsu03; "August 15 is not about commemorating the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, it is about the end of a more than a decade of tyranny, oppression, mass-murder, and the deaths of tens of millikns of people, mostly innocents, who died at the hands of the IJA. The dropping of the atomic bombs is only a feather on the scale when counterbalanced against the acts perpetrated by Japan during the war."

Tell all this to people like Abe, the man who omitted any mention of Japanese wrong-doing from his speech. THAT, and Aso's moronic comments, are why this Israeli went over the top with this comments.

"You reap what you sow"

Or, cause and effect.

"Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not deserved"

There sure was a lot of human suffering caused by the atomic bombings. That being said, without the bombings, the war would have dragged on for months, if not another year, and there would have been more suffering in Japan as the invasion of Honshu commenced, and in other countries that the Japanese were subjugating.

I would have to sympathize with Mr Stein. My grandfather fought against the Japanese in the war, and out of the entire troop which left America in 1941, only two survived to see the end of the war. Most died after the surrender of the Philippines. Many died of starvation and sickness, others died from abuse and torture. As bad as their lot was, many civilians fared much worse. Chinese living in the Phillipines, Malaya, and Thailand were often killed as quickly as they were found, and their heads put on poles around the prison, and at crossroads. As many as 100,000 people died just during the building of the Thailand-Burma railroad. POW's and civilians were forced to work from dawn until dusk, fed only a pint of rice per day, and received no medical treatment whatsoever. They worked until they dropped, after which, if they weren't recovered by their friends or comrades, they would end up as the victims of bayonet or sword practice.

August 15 is not about commemorating the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, it is about the end of a more than a decade of tyranny, oppression, mass-murder, and the deaths of tens of millikns of people, mostly innocents, who died at the hands of the IJA. The dropping of the atomic bombs is only a feather on the scale when counterbalanced against the acts perpetrated by Japan during the war.

Doesn't anyone remember history? Or is it no longer taught?

@i'ma monkey

Yes , unless people remember the horrors of the past then we will be condemned to repeat them again and again and again....

Hmmm.. my post must not have uploaded correctly.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima were both deserved.

Moderator: No, it was correctly removed because it was offensive.

When there is a commemoration regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the assembled preach about not warring anymore. When they cry, they are taken back to that experience; remembering friends and relatives that are gone. They get together to say, "no more war."

They share the horrors that they experienced. To tell us to fear war.

Soon, these people will be gone too. I want to say thanks.

First, a brief summary of the situation toward the end of the Pacific War. Japan and (primarily) America had just finished a hard-fought battle for Okinawa in which thousands on both sides had been killed, maimed, or injured. The next step was battles for Kyushu, or Honshu. Tokyo and the other major cities throughout Japan were in nearly total destruction. The people in Japan were nearly starving. It would have taken up to 6 months to gather the men, ships, aircraft and supplies befor America would be prepared for the next big invasion. In the mean time, america would have continued the bombing and the Japanese people would have continued starving. The European war was over, and the Soviet Union was moving its troops to Siberia in preparation of an invasion of Hokaido or northern Japan. The Soviet Union could have started its invasion of Japan while America was still getting ready. If the war had not ended before the Soviet Unions invasion of Japan, northern Japan would be speaking Russian now.

The situation(s) was extreme all the way around on all sides. There were rumors that at least of the some in the Japanese leadership were ready for surrender, but no one could be sure of the validity of the rumors. One could only imagine how many more Japanese people would die while America was getting ready. And how many Japanese and American would have died if America had had to invade Kyushu or Honshu. War is Hell, and there are no easy answers.

The cliche "you reap what you sow" cited by the American official Danny Seaman is not applicable to the savage bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although it might turn out to be applicable elsewhere.

Good point Probie

"Japan didn't want to surrender because of the bombs. They only did it because Russia was planning on invading, and if they did, they'd get rid of the Emperor. The Emperor didn't want, and since he was the top dog, he made the surrender choice. A large part of the Japanese war cabinet wanted to continue, even after the bombing of Nagasaki. All this is historic fact. Some people need to read up more." and Russia took Japan's far northern Islands in the process and probably will never return them....Lets Hear Aso get on Russia's case about that---not

Actually I think he has a point,you reap what you sow.

Mr. Aso's dumb comments started this whole mess

Japan didn't want to surrender because of the bombs. They only did it because Russia was planning on invading, and if they did, they'd get rid of the Emperor. The Emperor didn't want, and since he was the top dog, he made the surrender choice. A large part of the Japanese war cabinet wanted to continue, even after the bombing of Nagasaki. All this is historic fact. Some people need to read up more.

smithinjapan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were certainly deserved.

I love the Japanese people as much as anyone, but what they did to the US alone earned them Fat Man and Little Boy. It's a shame that innocent people died, but the men and women in the US Navy in Honolulu were as innocent as the boys and girls killed in the atomic blasts.

Japan deserved those attacks and more.

For someone who is supposed to be involved in 'government public relations', this guy doesn't seem to know a whole lot about government public relations.

There can never be a hierarchy of victims.

You do indeed ""reap what you sow".

I wonder why he doesn't consider first why Israel is evicting Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem, and why Israel tolerates settlers are tearing up Palestinian orchards.

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow,” he said.

Well, he is right...

He shouldn't be sick of the Japanese and international commemorations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims, but should be sick of the Atomic Bomb.

I am not a Government employee but I do not write comments like that in my FB or other personal online accounts. In a places this ...like Japan Today is the best place to write....

How arrogant, especially when we hear so much about the holocaust which the Israeli's have used to force disgusting policies against their neighbours by trying to play the sympathy card.

No wonder Koreans can be accused of playing the victim card, if someone can accuse the Jewish people of the same..

Guy is a fool

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow,” he said.

If what he says is right then the Jews must have done some bad stuff prior to WWII, this guy could be Governer of Tokyo or Osaka making commnets like this.

How arrogant, especially when we hear so much about the holocaust which the Israeli's have used to force disgusting policies against their neighbours by trying to play the sympathy card.

This very erroneous statement shows that somebody needs to bone up on current events.

Israeli... Diplomacy

Oxymoron?

How arrogant, especially when we hear so much about the holocaust which the Israeli's have used to force disgusting policies against their neighbours by trying to play the sympathy card.

However accurate his feelings are, especially considering Abe's total lack of remorse, a person in his position should know better.

His full FB post:

“I am sick of the Japanese, ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Peace’ groups the world over holding their annual self righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow.

“Instead, they should be commemorating the estimated 50 million Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Malay, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Burmese and other victims of Japanese imperial aggression and genocide. Not to mention nearly 120,000 Allied military casualties who fought to defeat the genocidal Japanese. These are who deserve to be and should be remembered this week.”

According to Wiki, Dany Seaman is not just an 'official involved in government public relations'; he's Deputy Director General for Information at the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs.

Not someone you'd expect to need to be told how to behave, but apparently not.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ilana Stein said Japan’s embassy sought clarification about the remark.

So Japan can have numerous leaders make VERY questionable remarks about Hilter, the Jewish faith, sex slaves, the rape of nanking and yet, they cry when anyone dares to do anything similar? This is why Japan has serious international relations issues with so many places. Can dish it out but can take it back.

This is extremely strange that an Israeli, in a governmental position should be making such statements. Both the Japanese and the Jews suffered immensely-what is really behind Seaman's bizarre behavior ?

I guess many people here agree to his mad statement.

In this world, speaking the truth offends a lot of people.. still no excuse for a government personnel to publish such opinion, the only mitigating factor being it was on his personal FB account.

For a government employee in public relations job.....writing sorts of things like that does not know his real job. His boss should provide a him detailed job description in lay men terms.......but anyway why hired someone that st........p?

Can't say I'm in OPPOSITION to his comment(s). We see the same thing EVERY YEAR, "Woe is us for being Bombed"; then, a few days later, we pay Homage to those who BROUGHT WWII to the Japanese people.

This probably ties in somewhat with Aso's "We should learn from the Nazi's" comment, which infuriated groups around the world, including many Jewish groups. It's relatively easy to understand why someone upset by such remarks would be further angered by the same people playing it up when its the victim card. Japan did indeed reap what it sowed -- but Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not deserved, and NEED to be remembered the same as every other atrocity.

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

What the heck's this guy's problem!?