Japanese Red Army

The Japanese Red Army was a communist militant organization active from 1971 to 2001. It carried out international attacks and allied with Palestinian militant groups.

Lod Airport massacre: A 1972 attack at Israel’s Lod Airport in which three Japanese Red Army members killed 26 people and wounded many others. This attack, carried out by members acting for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, became the group’s defining atrocity.
Fusako Shigenobu: A Japanese revolutionary who founded and led the Japanese Red Army until its dissolution. Her organizing and leadership shaped the group’s formation, strategy, and long years abroad.
Leila Khaled: A Palestinian militant and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, known for airplane hijackings. Her organization trained and collaborated with Japanese Red Army members.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: A Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organization founded in 1967 and active in armed struggle against Israel. The Japanese Red Army trained and coordinated with this organization, including in attacks abroad.
Terrorism in Japan: Politically motivated violence carried out within Japan or by organizations based there. The Japanese Red Army became Japan’s most visible postwar militant group operating internationally.
AIA Building hostage crisis: A 1974 hostage-taking at the French embassy in The Hague by members of the Japanese Red Army. The operation demonstrated the group’s use of embassy seizures to win the release of imprisoned militants.
Red Army Faction: A Japanese Marxist-Leninist militant organization founded in 1969 that sought world revolution. Shigenobu’s faction split from this organization before establishing the Japanese Red Army.
George Habash: A Palestinian physician and politician who founded and led the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. His organization hosted and partnered with the Japanese militants in Lebanon.
Aircraft hijacking: The unlawful seizure of an aircraft by force or threat, often to compel political concessions. Hijackings gave the group leverage to demand the release of imprisoned members.
Aviation security: Measures designed to prevent unlawful interference with civil aviation and protect passengers and aircraft. The group’s hijackings added pressure for stronger international safeguards against aircraft seizures.

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