Shigenobu, Fusako (1945–)

A wing of the Japanese Red Army (JRA) founded by Fusako Shigenobu was responsible for a series of terrorist attacks, including a 1972 attack on Ben-Gurion Airport (Lod Airport) in Tel Aviv.

Fusako Shigenobu was an active student member of the JRA in the 1960s. A radical leftist group, it wanted to drive out the democratic government and end American involvement in the country so that Japan could become a communist state. The group split into several factions, and in 1971 Shigenobu and a handful of followers went to Lebanon to join forces with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The early actions of Shigenobu's faction included kidnappings, murders, and hijackings, mostly on behalf of the PFLP. The deadliest attack was a machine gun and grenade attack at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in 1972. The JRA killed 26 people, ...