On May 31, 1972, fighters from the Japanese Red Army, in collaboration with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, carried out an operation at Lod Airport.
The Japanese individuals disembarked from an Air France plane at Lod Airport and waited like other passengers to collect their luggage at 10:20 PM, among them the well-known Japanese name Kozo Okamoto, arriving from Paris.
When the luggage reached the passengers, the three men pulled out their automatic weapons from their bags and began firing in all directions and throwing hand grenades onto the airport grounds, resulting in the killing of 26 Israelis and the injury of around eighty in this operation.
As for the three attackers, one of them was killed after he ran out of ammunition, while the second detonated himself with a hand grenade. Kozo Okamoto was arrested after being injured. He spent 13 years in captivity in Israeli prisons, mostly in solitary confinement, after being sentenced by an Israeli court to three life sentences.
It is known that during his captivity, Kozo Okamoto lost his memory and his behavior became erratic under torture and isolation. Former prisoners who lived through his time in prison reported that "his mental and psychological health deteriorated significantly, to the point where he would make strange sounds imitating Tarzan."
Kozo Okamoto was released in a prisoner exchange deal in 1985 between the Israeli occupation and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, led by Ahmed Jibril.
During his interrogation, Kozo Okamoto claimed to be a member of the Japanese Red Army and stated that the operation was carried out as part of the global revolution against Zionism and global imperialism, within the framework of cooperation and planning by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine under the leadership of Dr. George Habash.
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