Kozo Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army who participated in the 1972 Lod Airport massacre that killed 26 and wounded 80, has died. A survivor, Pastor José Vega Franqui, said he has found forgiveness for Okamoto, according to the Times of Israel.
Pastor José Vega Franqui, a survivor of the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, has told the Times of Israel that he has found forgiveness for Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese Red Army terrorist who carried out the attack. The statement, which the pastor described as 'closing a chapter,' comes as the last surviving perpetrator of the massacre has died in Beirut.
The Zioneer first reported on Thursday, July 23, that Okamoto had died in Beirut at age 78, based on initial Israeli media reports. Later that same day, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) published an obituary confirming his death, noting that Okamoto was the sole survivor of the attack, had served 13 years in Israeli prison, and was released in the 1985 Jibril prisoner exchange. Reports also emerged that Okamoto had suffered severe mental deterioration in his final years, believing he was an electric kettle. On Saturday, July 25, a large funeral was held for Okamoto in the Dahieh district of Beirut, with his body wrapped in a Palestinian flag and a PFLP flag, as The Zioneer reported.
Okamoto was part of a three-man squad that carried out the attack on May 30, 1972, at what was then Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion Airport), killing 26 people and wounding 80 in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Israeli history. He never expressed regret for his actions. The death of the last perpetrator and the pastor's forgiveness bring a personal sense of closure for some, though the attack's ideological legacy remains a painful memory.
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