Aging Japanese militant in Beirut marks 1972 Israel attack

BEIRUT — 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 a 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, including Christian pilgrims.

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

The ceremony at a Beirut cemetery where many Palestinian militants are buried was organized by a radical Palestinian faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It was attended by a few dozen people and officials from Lebanese and Palestinian factions including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The participants gathered around a memorial for four pro-Palestinian Japanese nationals.

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.

Okamoto’s rare public appearance came two days after Fusako Shigenobu, who co-founded the Japanese Red Army, was released from prison in Japan after serving a 20-year sentence and apologizing for hurting innocent people.

The Japanese Red Army, a violent ultra-leftist group that had links to Palestinian militants, was formed in 1971 and took responsibility for several international attacks, including the takeover of the U.S. Consulate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1975. The group is also suspected in the 1972 machine-gun and grenade assault…