Families of 1972 Lod massacre victims seek US court review

Families of victims of the 1972 terrorist attack at Lod (now Ben-Gurion) Airport have asked the US Supreme Court to intervene in their case as they try to recover a $378 million judgment against North Korea for its role in aiding the raid.

In a petition last week, lawyers for the families at the Berkman Law Office said an opinion from the court is needed to ensure that victims of terrorism can recover monetary judgments and to clarify victims’ rights when a country loses its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, as North Korea did.

On May 30, 1972, three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- External Operations attacked the airport, killing 26 people and wounding 80 others. Two of the terrorists died, while a third, Kozo Okamoto, was wounded and captured.

Seventeen Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico, a Canadian and eight Israelis were killed, including Prof. Aharon Katzir, head of the Israel National Academy of Sciences, who was a candidate for the presidency of the state. His younger brother, Ephraim Katzir, was elected president in 1973 instead.

In 2008, the eight surviving children of Carmelo Calderón Molina, who was killed in the attack, and Pablo Tirado, the son of Pablo Tirado Ayala, who was wounded, sued the government of North Korea in US court for providing material support to the PFLP-EO and the Japanese Red Army, and for planning the attack. The North Korean government did not respond to the lawsuit. The victims’ families were represented by lawyers from the Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center. In July 2010, the US court ordered North Korea to pay $378m. to families of the victims.