Abbas’s Fatah praises 1972 Lod airport terror attack

Japanese Red Army trio gunned down 8 Israelis and 16 tourists at Lod Airport; Fatah Facebook post hails surviving killer as a ‘hero’

By Agencies and ToI Staff 19 May 2016, 2:37 am

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Posting a photo from the attack, showing pools of blood on the floor next to torn and scattered luggage, Fatah sent “greetings” to the surviving “hero,” the murderer Kozo Okamoto, in a May 17 Facebook post (PMW)

RAMALLAH — The party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is praising the gunmen who killed 24 people when they attacked an Israeli airport in 1972.

Three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by a Palestinian terrorist group, opened fire and threw grenades at Lod Airport, killing eight Israelis and 16 foreign tourists. The post on Fatah’s official Facebook page Wednesday came ahead of the anniversary of the attack.

“A thousand greetings to the Japanese fighter and comrade Kozo Okamoto, the hero of the Lod airport operation,” the post reads, accompanied by photos.

Munir Jaghob, a Fatah media official, said “We are proud of all the people who worked for the Palestinian cause.”

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli group, accused Fatah of having a policy of “glorifying terrorists on the date of their attacks.”