The shooting took place when three Japanese men in business suits disembarked at Lod Airport (known today as Ben-Gurion Airport) and took machine guns and grenades from their luggage, opening fire indiscriminately throughout the airport.
The incident was carried out in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Two of the shooters died during the incident but one, Kozo Okamoto, survived and was taken into custody.
After pleading guilty to avoid the death penalty, Okamoto was given a life sentence. But 13 years later, he was released in a prisoner exchange with the Palestinians in what was later known as the Jibril Agreement. He later moved to Lebanon and was given refugee status due to participating in "resistance operations against Israel." Now 73 years old, Okamoto is reported to still be living in Lebanon to this day, though he remains wanted by Japan.
In a rare interview given by Okamoto to Japanese daily The Mainichi Shimbun in 2017, Okamoto said he felt sorry for the victims but maintained it was not terrorism. Rather, the massacre was an armed struggle started jointly with the PFLP. Now, like in the past, armed struggles become the best propaganda."
The same interview also included quotes from Marwan Abdelal, who was the leader of the PFLP branch in Lebanon. Abdelal referred to Okamoto as the "last samurai" and vowed that he would continue to receive protection in Lebanon.
The incident was especially shocking for Israel as well as Japan, with many reportedly having reacted in shock at the news of Japanese terrorism against Israel. However, the incident is perhaps most widely remembered outside of Israel in Puerto Rico, where the vast majority of casualties were from.
Since 2006, Puerto Rico has observed Lod Airport Massacre Remembrance Day every May 30.
The dead consisted of 17 Puerto Rican Christian pilgrims, a Canadian and eight Israelis, including Prof. Aharon Katzir, the head of Israel’s National Academy of Sciences and brother of Ephraim Katzir, who became president of Israel the following year.