Japanese Red Army terrorist behind deadly 1972 attack on Israeli airport dies at 78
Kozo Okamoto was sentenced to life in prison for attack that killed 26 people, but was freed 13 years later in a prisoner deal and moved to Lebanon, remaining there until his death
Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese Red Army terrorist involved in the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, died in Beirut at age 78, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) announced. Okamoto was part of a three-man team that killed 26 people, including 17 American citizens from Puerto Rico, at what is now Ben Gurion Airport. He was captured, sentenced to life in prison in Israel, and later released in the 1985 Jibril Agreement prisoner exchange. Okamoto subsequently received political asylum in Lebanon, where he lived under PFLP protection until his death. A PFLP official noted, "until today, he speaks of Palestine and refuses the occupier."
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