Japanese Terrorist Who Killed 24 at Ben Gurion Airport Dies in Beirut After 54 Years

Kozu Okamoto, the Japanese terrorist responsible for the deadly 1972 attack at Ben Gurion Airport that killed 24 people, has died in Beirut at age 78. Okamoto, who began his militant activities with the Japanese Red Army before collaborating with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), carried out the attack alongside two other militants. The three arrived from Paris and opened fire with automatic weapons and grenades in Terminal 1 while waiting for their luggage. During the attack, Yasuyuki Yasuda was killed by security forces, and Tsuyoshi Okudaira committed suicide with a grenade.

Okamoto was arrested after the attack and spent approximately 13 years in Israeli prisons until his release in the 1985 Jibril Agreement, which freed 1,151 security prisoners in exchange for three Israeli soldiers held captive. In 2000, he received political asylum in Lebanon, where he lived until his death. Born on December 7, 1947, in Kumamoto, Japan, Okamoto's militant career transitioned from the Japanese Red Army to the PFLP, reflecting his international involvement in Palestinian militancy.

His death marks the end of a long chapter linked to one of the most notorious terrorist attacks in Israeli history, which had a lasting impact on Israeli security policies and counterterrorism efforts.