We Cannot Stop Future Hiroshimas if We’ve Allowed Today’s Gazas to Burn
Dr. Ghasson Shahrour, a medical expert and a Campaigner with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, wrote the following piece.
“Every August 6, the world is asked to pause—
for memory, for reflection, for conscience. We remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki: two cities reduced to ash in seconds.
Tens of thousands lost. Generations marked by invisible wounds. I still carry the voices of the Hibakusha—the survivors I met in Japan—etched in my memory. Their quiet pain. Their fierce plea for peace. Their insistence: Never again.
“But when I look at Gaza today, I ask: Did we ever truly listen?
“Nearly 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and after Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and now Gaza—another catastrophe has unfolded before our eyes.
“In Gaza, children are pulled from the rubble. Entire families erased. Homes, hospitals, community centers, schools—obliterated.
“And still, the selective outrage. Still, the silence. Still, the complicity. This is precisely when international humanitarian law must speak loudest.
“It prohibits attacks on civilians. It demands distinction between combatants and non-combatants, proportionality in response, and humanity even amidst war.
“The Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute, the UN Charter—these are not relics of diplomacy. They are collective promises, born from the blood and conscience of history. And they are being tested now, perhaps more than ever.
“Yet law alone is not enough.
“Without the courage to enforce it—and the will to apply it universally—the law becomes a hollow shield: one that protects some lives, but not others. When that happens, justice erodes, trust collapses, and the very fabric of shared humanity is torn.
“Gaza is not just another battlefield. It is a litmus test for the world’s moral integrity.
“Are indiscriminate bombings being investigated and condemned?
“Are siege tactics that deny water, food, and medical care being challenged as violations of international law?
“Is the international community fulfilling its duty to protect civilians—not just in statements, but in concrete actions?
“It is not enough to condemn atrocities after the fact. The real challenge lies in prevention, accountability, and deterrence.
“Civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and international legal bodies—from the UN to grassroots NGOs—have a critical role. Their work is a lifeline for truth, for memory, and for justice. But they need more than mandates—they need political will and meaningful support.
“Yes, we must recognize that we cannot stop future Hiroshimas if we’ve allowed today’s Gazas to burn.
“The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), was a landmark—a triumph of international humanitarian law and human conscience over mass annihilation.
“But disarmament is not only about dismantling weapons. It is about upholding the same legal and moral principles—protecting civilians, prohibiting indiscriminate violence, and ensuring accountability—that are being violated today in Gaza.
“Because we have failed to uphold humanitarian law in Gaza, we are betraying the very principles that led to nuclear disarmament in the first place.
“We cannot claim to honor the laws that ban nuclear weapons while turning a blind eye to war crimes committed with conventional ones.
“From the ashes of Hiroshima to the flames of Gaza, the geography changes—but the grief does not. A mother burying her child in Japan in 1945 
felt the same unspeakable sorrow as one doing so in Palestine today. The pain is universal. The injustice, unmistakable.
“What is happening in Gaza is not merely a conflict—it is the collapse of legal norms, the erosion of accountability, and the betrayal of humanitarian principles. When hospitals become battlegrounds, when homes, refugee camps, and cities become graves, and when human rights are stripped away by siege and fire—killing more than sixty thousand people, thirty percent of them children—the world must not simply watch. It must act.
“Let this Hiroshima Day be not only a memorial to the past, but a mirror to the present—and a call to action:
“For equal enforcement of humanitarian and human rights law, everywhere.
“For international solidarity that transcends political calculations.
“For justice that restores—not only punishes.
“For a culture of peace that replaces cycles of destruction.
“Let this be the day we finally hear the voices of victims—from Hiroshima to Gaza.
“Let it be the day we say, with unwavering clarity:
“No peace without justice.
“No security without law.
“No future without shared humanity.”
- Friday, August 8th from noon to 1 pm –
Join your neighbors and friends at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.
- 80th Anniversary Events: Remembering Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki – July 16, August 6, and August 9, 2025. Physicians for Social Responsibility provide a listing of commemoration events around the country. Check for an event or events in your area at https://psr.org/get-involved/80th-anniversary-events/
- Friday, August 1st through Friday, August 29th –
Anti-Uranium Mapping Project Opening with photographer and activist Shayla Blatchford who documents her 14-year journey to expose the hidden truths of extractive mining practices on the Navajo Nation. CENTER, 1570 Pacheco St., Unit B1, Santa Fe, NM.
Special reception for the artist on Thursday, August 14th from 5 to 8 pm.
https://www.antiuraniummappingproject.com/
- Wednesday, August 6th – “A Message to Humanity” –
watch the Nobel Peace Conference and Festival 2025, in Oslo, Norway. Many presentations and learning opportunities. https://www.nobelpeacecenter.org/en/nobel-peace-conference-and-festival
- Saturday, August 9th from 10 am to 3 pm
– Nagasaki – Japan – 80th Anniversary Commemoration in Los Alamos, NM. At two locations: Manhattan Project National Historic Park (Ashley Pond) and SALA Event Center. Vigil and Protest, March, Viewing Two Documentaries with Q&A with filmmakers, March, and Refreshments. Please see July 24, 2025 CCNS News Update for details: https://nuclearactive.org/join-us-on-saturday-august-9th-for-nagasaki-commemoration-events-in-los-alamos/
Tags: Campaigner with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Dr. Ghasson Shahrour, Gaza, Hiroshima, ICAN, Nagasaki
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