Memorial services for the 16 Puerto Rican tourists killed in the “kamikaze” terrorist attack at Lad Airport in Israel ten years ago were held at the Maramar Jewish Center. A number of the survivors attended, as did an Israel Air Force doctor, Mois’e Gross, who treated those wounded in the attack on May 30,1972.
The victims were Puerto Rican Christians on a pilgrimage to holy places in Israel. They had just disembarked from their plane when terrorists, later identified as members of Japan’s extreme left Red Army sprayed the passenger terminal with machinegun fire. All but one of the terrorists were killed by Israel security forces. A sole survivor, Kozu Okamoto, is serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison.
Rabbi Claudi Kaiser of the Jewish Community Center conducted the service. Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Moshe Arens, sent a message from Washington recalling that the pilgrims who survived the tragedy completed their tour of Israel “despite the shock, the sorrow and the pain. Nothing reflects better the determination of those who are ready to resist terrorism,” the envoy wrote. He extended “condolences to the people of Puerto Rico and the families and friends who lost their dear ones in the Lod massacre.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
