Aging Japanese Militant in Beirut Marks 1972 Israel Attack

An aging Japanese militant who spent more than a decade in an Israeli prison for his part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv’s airport showed up in Beirut on Monday at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the attack.

Kozo Okamoto, 74, served 12 years in an Israeli lockup for the May 30, 1972 attack on the international airport outside Tel Aviv that was thought to be carried out by members of the Japanese Red Army guerrilla group. Twenty-six people were killed.

Okamoto was freed in 1985 in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Palestinian terrorists and has since gained political asylum in Lebanon where he has been living quietly for decades.

The 1972 attack on the airport was suspected to be a joint operation between the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army.

Donning a Palestinian flag around his neck and the slogan of the PFLP, Okamoto looked frail as he walked toward the grave with the help of several men. He did not speak during his 30-minute visit to the cemetery and sometimes smiled and waved.

In the 1972 attack, Okamoto and two of his colleagues arrived in Tel Aviv on a flight from Europe, then collected their bags, in which they had packed rifles and grenades and opened fire, killing and wounding dozens, according to AP reports.

The two Japanese with Okamoto were killed in the attack while he was wounded. Okamoto was later put on trial in Israel and sentenced to life in prison.

Japan has been demanding for years that Okamoto be handed over by Lebanon but Beirut has repeatedly rejected the demand. He is considered a hero by many in Lebanon and the Arab world.

During the opening session of his trial in Lebanon in 1997, Okamoto was asked if he had used a forged passport to enter Lebanon and he told the Beirut Criminal Court: ″I don’t understand why I am facing a charge of using a forged passport.”

“I am an Arab resistance fighter,″ he said. ″I did it for the Palestinian cause.″