SNA (Tokyo) — Unable to reconcile the demands of its US security alliance with its long-stated diplomatic position in support of international law, the Japanese government has opted to pretend that it doesn’t really know what is happening in the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa has repeatedly told reporters Japan is “not a direct party to the conflict and does not fully grasp its specific situations. We cannot make a definitive legal assessment,” according to a report by Kyodo News.

At a press conference on November 7, Kamikawa was directly challenged by a Japanese reporter on this point; she was asked why Japan asserts that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of international law but cannot say that Israel’s mass murder of civilians in Gaza is not also a violation, particularly after it has declared such by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“I refrain from making a definitive legal assessment on behalf of our country,” answered Kamikawa, who has also served three terms as Japan’s justice minister. She “urged Israel to emphasize the importance of protecting civilians and to respond in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law,” but she offered no opinion on whether or not the slaughter of well over 5,000 Palestinian women and children constituted a violation of norms.

Turning to the issue of Ukraine, Kamikawa answered that “our country has endorsed relevant United Nations General Assembly resolutions, stating that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates Article 2 (4) of the United Nations Charter. The international community, including our country and the G7, has consistently stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of international law prohibiting the use of force.”

As for the question of whether Japan was being inconsistent in citing UN authority on the question of Ukraine, but ignoring it on the issue of the Gaza bloodshed, Kamikawa had nothing to say.

Japanese diplomats are reportedly well aware that its G7 allies are rapidly losing credibility within the “Global South” over reluctance to rein in Israel’s behavior, but Tokyo remains characteristically unwilling to make any statements or take any actions which might meet with disapproval in Washington.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which has been found in the past to be generally accurate in its assessments, reports the Palestinian death toll in Israel-Hamas conflict has passed 11,000 people.

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