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A guesthouse in Japan says it is under pressure from local authorities to change a policy asking guests to declare that they have never committed war crimes, following complaints by Israel’s ambassador.

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen has accused the WIND VILLA guest house in Kyoto of discrimination following an incident in April in which an Israeli tourist was asked to sign a pledge stating he had never “been involved in any war crimes that violate humanitarian and international law”.

In a post on X over the weekend, Cohen described the request as a “blatant act of discrimination against Israeli citizens and an unacceptable attempt to equate them with war criminals”.

“I call on the Kyoto City authorities to address this case swiftly,” Cohen said.

“We trust that the Japanese authorities will continue to uphold the values of hospitality and respect that Japan is so well known for – and ensure all visitors feel welcome and safe.”

Deeply concerned by the discriminatory incident that took place in April at Wind Villa guesthouse in Kyoto, where an Israeli tourist was asked to sign a declaration stating he had not committed war crimes.

This is a blatant act of discrimination against Israeli citizens and an…

WIND VILLA owner Ace Kishi said in an interview that he has no plans to change the policy following an investigation by Kyoto city authorities and a rebuke from the Israeli envoy.

Kishi said he began asking guests to sign the pledge about six months ago in response to world events.

“I was really concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israeli attacks on Gaza,” Kishi told Al Jazeera.

“I just wanted to take some measures for our safety, and for guest safety, as well, and to express our disagreement with war crimes and international violations.”

Kishi said only four people have signed the pledge so far – three Israelis and one Russian.

The Israeli tourist in April was the first to take issue with the request, he said, although some guests were surprised by the document.

“Mostly, they have had no objection, they just looked a little confused,” Kishi said.

“The last one was quite confused and upset. But eventually he signed and said he hadn’t committed any war crimes.”

In an account of his interaction with the Israeli tourist posted on X last month, Kishi described the man as an otherwise pleasant guest and admitted to feeling a “little sorry for him”.

“The pledge thing made us pretty awkward, but he still greeted me every time we met,” Kishi wrote.

“He even held the door open for me while I was carrying my luggage. But he believed that what Israel was doing was absolutely right and thought that I was brainwashed for criticising it.”

Given the number of troops deployed in Gaza, the number of casualties there, and the number of Israeli travelers abroad, it is statistically undeniable that those who have committed war crimes are walking freely in major cities and tourist destinations in the world.

The Israeli tourist, who has not been named, shared a similar version of events with an Israeli news outlet following his trip to Kyoto – although the Israeli report suggested the pledge was a “condition for check-in”.

“In the end, I decided to sign it because I have nothing to hide,” the guest was quoted as telling Ynet News, which said the tourist had served as a combat medic in the navy reserves.

“The statement is true – I did not commit any war crimes, and Israeli soldiers do not commit war crimes. I signed because I didn’t want to create problems, and because this form means nothing,” he was quoted as saying.

Following complaints from Cohen and the Israeli embassy, Kyoto tourism authorities visited the guest house several times to carry out an investigation, Kishi said.

“At least the authorities, both from the city and the Japanese government, don’t think it’s a violation of the Hotel Act,” Kishi said, referring to the Japanese law governing public accommodations.

“They are just expressing their concerns and trying to convince us to change our measures. But it’s beyond their authority, so it’s very indirect.”

Kishi said he has tweaked the wording of the pledge to state that it would not affect guests’ eligibility to stay at WIND VILLA, to avoid further incidents.

He also clarified in a public letter to Cohen that the pledge requires “all guests whom our guesthouse identifies as potentially having been involved in war crimes to sign the form,” including those from Burundi, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, Palestine, Russia, Syria, and Sudan.

Booking.com has suspended WIND VILLA’s account since the April incident, although the Israeli guest used rival site Expedia.com to book his stay, according to Kishi.

On April 28, our guesthouse was suddenly suspended by https://t.co/ALza8eLJ8e without any prior inquiry, just three days after receiving a letter from the Israeli Ambassador.
However, the Israeli guest in question had used a different booking site, not https://t.co/ALza8eLJ8e. pic.twitter.com/t9Z2OJ3ghF

WIND VILLA’s other accounts on booking sites, including Expedia.com, continue to operate as normal, Kishi said.

The Kyoto government and Israel’s embassy in Tokyo did not reply to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.

The Japan Times quoted a city official as saying WIND VILLA had not violated Japanese law, but the pledge was “inappropriate”.

Booking.com told Al Jazeera that the company’s mission “is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, and we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind”.

“We have temporarily suspended this property so that we can investigate the matter further,” the spokesperson said.

The WIND VILLA incident follows a similar occurrence in Kyoto last year, when a local hotel refused an Israeli man accommodation over his potential ties to Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The Kyoto hotel in question received verbal and written warnings from the city that it had acted illegally, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told local media at the time that it was “unacceptable” for any hotel to refuse accommodation because of a guest’s nationality.

Julius Randle scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors to clinch their Western Conference second-round playoff series in Minneapolis.

Anthony Edwards finished with 22 points and 12 assists for Minnesota, which won the best-of-seven series in five games. The Timberwolves advanced to the conference finals, where they will await the winner of the series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.

“It’s great,” Randle said on Wednesday night. “We’ve had a season full of adversity. Coach (Chris Finch) said at the end of the regular season that we didn’t do anything as far as trades or firing coaches. We just stuck together, and we got through it together.

“I’m super proud of our team, everybody that stepped up in some type of way this year. We got win No. 8 (in the playoffs). We’ve got to keep going.”

Brandin Podziemski scored 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting to lead Golden State. Jonathan Kuminga added 26 points off the bench, and Jimmy Butler III chipped in 17 points and six assists.

“It was a fight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m really proud of our guys. They hung in there and they battled the whole way through.

“(It was) quite a turnaround in our season from where we were a few months ago to giving ourselves a chance and having a swing at the plate for some real chances to go deep. We were right there. Obviously, it didn’t go our way. The Wolves were great, they deserved it. But I’m very proud of our team.”

The Warriors dropped their fourth straight game without Stephen Curry, who watched in street clothes from the bench. Curry injured his left hamstring in the series opener after leading Golden State to a first-round playoff series win over the Houston Rockets.

Kerr said of the challenge of playing without Curry, “Injuries are part of the playoffs. I learned a long time ago that the playoffs are really about health and then just guys stepping up and making some big shots, big plays in key games. That’s what decides every series.

“We’ve been on both ends of that. It’s just part of it. There’s no sense in dwelling on it, and I don’t want to take anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished.”

The Timberwolves led by as many as 25 points late in the third quarter. Randle dribbled the ball from one end of the court to the other and finished with a running layup to give the Timberwolves a 93-68 edge with 1:01 remaining in the third.

The Warriors made a determined push in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to nine. Moses Moody drained a 3-pointer to bring Golden State within 99-90 with 7:11 to play.

Edwards helped Minnesota regain a double-digit advantage moments later. He knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top 102-90, and Jaden McDaniels increased the lead to 14 points with a steal and a layup with 6:36 remaining.

“The team has come together at the right time and is playing its best basketball,” Finch said.

The Timberwolves led 62-47 at the half.

Golden State trailed 45-42 after Podziemski made a jump shot with 4:11 left in the half.

Minnesota closed the second quarter on a 17-5 run to grab a 15-point lead. Randle finished the first-half scoring with a three-point play after making a layup and drawing a foul.

The Timberwolves shot 62.8 percent (49 of 78) overall and 41.9 percent (13 of 31) from beyond the arc. The Warriors shot 43.3 percent (39 of 90) from the field and 28.2 percent (11 of 39) from 3-point range.

Celtics rebound to win Game 5 without Tatum

In an earlier playoff fixture on Wednesday, Derrick White scored a game-high 34 points and the Boston Celtics extended their season by beating the visiting New York Knicks 127-102 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference second-round series.

The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Friday’s Game 6 in New York.

White shot 7-for-13 from 3-point territory and made nine of his 11 free-throw attempts. Boston sank 22 of its 49 shots from behind the 3-point arc (44.9 percent) and outscored New York 68-43 in the second half.

The Celtics received 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds from Jaylen Brown. Luke Kornet added 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots and Payton Pritchard came off the bench to make five 3-pointers and score 17 points.

“We made winning plays on both ends of the floor,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They made enough plays to win. Gave us another chance to play.”

It was Boston’s second playoff game without All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who had surgery on Tuesday to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

Josh Hart scored a team-high 24 points for New York, which shot 29-of-81 from the field (35.8 percent). Jalen Brunson collected 22 points and six assists, but he fouled out with 7:19 to play. Brunson was called for his fifth foul with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter.

“That we didn’t play for 48 minutes,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau when asked what stood out on Wednesday. “We didn’t play tough with the lead. Can’t afford to do that.”

More than 74 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in a wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, deepening an already catastrophic toll after 19 months of unrelenting bombardment.

At least 57 people were killed overnight and into Thursday in a barrage of strikes on residential areas in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to local health officials. Medical staff at Nasser Medical Complex reported an influx of casualties, many of them children.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, displaced Palestinian Hasan Moqbel described the continuing assault as a war on civilians. “They have been bombing Gaza for 19 months. What’s left in Gaza? Innocent children are dying. There is no armed activity here. Most of them are elderly people who are dying,” he said.

Among those killed was Palestinian journalist Hassan Samour. He and several members of his family were killed when an Israeli strike targeted their home in Bani Suheila, a town east of Khan Younis.

Earlier this week, another Palestinian journalist, Hassan Aslih, was killed in an Israeli drone attack on the emergency wing of Nasser Hospital. He had been receiving treatment for injuries sustained in a previous Israeli strike.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 170 journalists and media workers, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), making Gaza one of the deadliest places in the world for the press.

The latest killings have triggered new waves of forced displacement. Thousands fled Gaza City on Thursday after the Israeli military issued sudden forced evacuation orders.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported scenes of panic and fear as residents packed their belongings and tried to escape the expected onslaught.

“We’re seeing families carrying their belongings and taking to the streets,” Mahmoud said. “The children and elderly are carrying whatever they’re able to carry … They don’t know where to go. There is no safe place for these people – the so-called shelters have already been destroyed by Israeli bombs.”

‘We have to flatten the West Bank’

Meanwhile, the Israeli government appears to be laying the groundwork for a parallel escalation in the occupied West Bank.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key figure in Israel’s far-right coalition, has openly called for military forces to destroy Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, echoing the destruction witnessed in Gaza.

“Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza, we have to flatten the terror hubs,” Smotrich said, referring specifically to the Palestinian village of Bruqin, where an Israeli settler was killed on Wednesday evening.

Israeli forces launched new raids across the occupied West Bank at dawn on Thursday, storming cities and refugee camps including Tubas, Nablus, Bethlehem and Dura. Residents in Qalandia, Ya’bad, Fawwar and Askar camps also reported house raids, arrests and what rights groups describe as systematic abuse.

Palestinians remember the Nakba

The calls to escalate violence in the West Bank come as Palestinians mark the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled by Zionist militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.

More than 530 villages and towns were razed, and the majority of the Palestinian population was either killed or exiled. The newly created state of Israel seized 78 percent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 percent – the West Bank and Gaza Strip – were occupied by Israel following the 1967 war and remain under military control.

Since October 2023, the Israeli army’s brutal offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

As the bombing continues and the death toll rises, rights groups, media freedom advocates and Palestinian civilians are warning of a campaign of deliberate annihilation.