Lod Airport massacre

Lod Airport massacre
Lod Airport massacre
	Lod Airport massacre (Central Israel)
Location	Lod Airport outside Tel Aviv, Israel
Coordinates	31°59′42″N 34°53′39″E / 31.99500°N 34.89417°E
Date	30 May 1972 ; 12:04 – 12:28
Attack type	Shooting spree
Weapons	Assault rifles and grenades
Deaths	26 (+2 attackers)
Injured	80 (+1 attacker)
Perpetrators	Japanese Red Army (guided by PFLP-EO)
No. of participants	3

The Lod Airport massacre^[1]^[2] was a terrorist attack that occurred on 30 May 1972. Three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO),^[2]^[3] attacked Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport) near Tel Aviv, killing 26 people and injuring 80 others.^[4] Two of the attackers were killed, while a third, Kōzō Okamoto, was captured after being wounded.

The dead comprised 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico, a Canadian citizen, and eight Israelis, including Professor Aharon Katzir, an internationally renowned protein biophysicist. Katzir was head of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, a popular scientific radio show host, and a candidate in the upcoming Israeli presidential election. His brother, Ephraim Katzir, was elected President of Israel the following year.

Because airport security was focused on the possibility of a Palestinian attack, the use of Japanese attackers took the guards by surprise. The attack has often been described as a suicide mission, but it has also been asserted that it was the outcome of an unpublicized larger operation that went awry. The three perpetrators—Kōzō Okamoto, Tsuyoshi Okudaira, and Yasuyuki Yasuda—had been trained in Baalbek, Lebanon; the actual planning was handled by Wadie Haddad (a.k.a. Abu Hani), head of PFLP External Operations, with some input from Okamoto.^[5] In the immediate aftermath, Der Spiegel speculated that funding had been provided by some of the $5 million ransom paid by the West German government in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 649 in February 1972.^[6]

^
* Sloan, Stephen; Bersia, John C.; Hill, J. B. (2006). Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context. Berg Publisher. p. 50. ISBN 1-84520-344-5. The short-term impact of the Lod Airport massacre as a precursor to Munich...
- "Again the Red Army". TIME. 18 August 1975. Two years later, just before the Lod Airport massacre, authorities uncovered the bodies of 14 young men and women on remote Mount Haruna, 70 miles northwest of Tokyo.
- "Lebanon Seizes Japanese Radicals Sought in Terror Attacks". The New York Times. 19 February 1997. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Those named by Lebanese officials as having been arrested included at least three Red Army members who have been wanted for years by Japanese authorities, most notably Kōzō Okamoto, 49, the only member of the attacking group who survived the Lod Airport massacre.
^ ^a ^b Simon, Jeffrey D. The Terrorist Trap: America's Experience with Terrorism. Indiana University Press. p. 324. ISBN 0-253-21477-7. They were responsible for the Lod Airport massacre in Israel in 1972, which was committed on behalf of the PFLP
^ "This Week in History". 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012. The assailants, members of communist group the Japanese Red Army (JRA), were enlisted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),
^ "Fasten Your Seatbelts: Ben Gurion Airport in Israel". The Fifth Estate. CBC News. 2007. In what became known as the Lod Airport Massacre, three members of the terrorist group, Japanese Red Army, arrived at the airport aboard Air France Flight 132 from Rome. Once inside the airport they grabbed automatic firearms from their carry-on cases and fired at airport staff and visitors. In the end, 26 people died and 80 people were injured.
^ Cite error: The named reference neojaponisme was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Weißer Kreis" [White circle]. Der Spiegel (in German): 82–85. 5 June 1972. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2013.

[1] * Sloan, Stephen; Bersia, John C.; Hill, J. B. (2006). Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context. Berg Publisher. p. 50. ISBN 1-84520-344-5. The short-term impact of the Lod Airport massacre as a precursor to Munich...
"Again the Red Army". TIME. 18 August 1975. Two years later, just before the Lod Airport massacre, authorities uncovered the bodies of 14 young men and women on remote Mount Haruna, 70 miles northwest of Tokyo.

"Lebanon Seizes Japanese Radicals Sought in Terror Attacks". The New York Times. 19 February 1997. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Those named by Lebanese officials as having been arrested included at least three Red Army members who have been wanted for years by Japanese authorities, most notably Kōzō Okamoto, 49, the only member of the attacking group who survived the Lod Airport massacre.

[2] "Again the Red Army". TIME. 18 August 1975. Two years later, just before the Lod Airport massacre, authorities uncovered the bodies of 14 young men and women on remote Mount Haruna, 70 miles northwest of Tokyo.

[3] "Lebanon Seizes Japanese Radicals Sought in Terror Attacks". The New York Times. 19 February 1997. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Those named by Lebanese officials as having been arrested included at least three Red Army members who have been wanted for years by Japanese authorities, most notably Kōzō Okamoto, 49, the only member of the attacking group who survived the Lod Airport massacre.

[PFLP_p._324-2] Simon, Jeffrey D. The Terrorist Trap: America's Experience with Terrorism. Indiana University Press. p. 324. ISBN 0-253-21477-7. They were responsible for the Lod Airport massacre in Israel in 1972, which was committed on behalf of the PFLP

[3] "This Week in History". 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012. The assailants, members of communist group the Japanese Red Army (JRA), were enlisted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),

[4] "Fasten Your Seatbelts: Ben Gurion Airport in Israel". The Fifth Estate. CBC News. 2007. In what became known as the Lod Airport Massacre, three members of the terrorist group, Japanese Red Army, arrived at the airport aboard Air France Flight 132 from Rome. Once inside the airport they grabbed automatic firearms from their carry-on cases and fired at airport staff and visitors. In the end, 26 people died and 80 people were injured.

[neojaponisme-5] Cite error: The named reference neojaponisme was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[sp_lod-6] "Weißer Kreis" [White circle]. Der Spiegel (in German): 82–85. 5 June 1972. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2013.

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