With the highest feelings of pride and honor, and with the deepest sense of loyalty and internationalist struggle, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on behalf of its Secretary General, its Deputy Secretary General, its Political Bureau, its Central Committee, and all its members and supporters in the homeland and the diaspora, announces to the heroic Palestinian people, to our Arab nation, and to all free and revolutionary peoples of the world, the passing of this internationalist gentleman who never stood except in the trenches of truth and freedom: Comrade Kōzō Okamoto (Ahmad the Japanese), who today, Thursday, July 23, 2026, departed in the suburb of dignity and honor, the Lebanese capital, Beirut, steadfast in his principles after a life filled with revolutionary glory and immense sacrifices, which spanned many decades in the fields of struggle alongside the Palestinian cause. He never compromised or yielded; he remained steadfast in the embers of his principles until the last beat of his life.
A life of glory and dignity… from the edge of the earth to the heart of Palestine
* The internationalist comrade Kōzō Okamoto was born on December 7, 1947, in the city of Kumamoto, in southern Japan, in a middle-class family, being the youngest of seven siblings.
* He distinguished himself by his sharp intelligence and extraordinary abilities. He studied Botany and quickly mastered several languages (English, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian), putting all his scientific and intellectual knowledge at the service of the cause he embraced.
* He was one of the heroes of the immortal operation at Lod Airport, carried out on May 30, 1972, in which Comrade Okamoto and his comrades wrote, with their blood and determination, one of the boldest and most innovative fedayeen operations in the history of the confrontation with the Zionist entity. The operation was carried out by fighters from the Japanese Red Army, in coordination with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as a response to the occupation’s aggression against the airport in Beirut in 1968.
* That operation shook the foundations of the Zionist entity, inspired the forces of resistance with exceptional methods to confront Zionist arrogance, and led the leader and writer martyr Ghassan Kanafani, then spokesman for the Front, to publicly claim the operation. Kanafani was later assassinated in a cowardly attack perpetrated by Zionism in July 1972.
* Comrade Okamoto spent thirteen difficult years in the prisons of the occupation, most of them in isolation and solitary confinement, subjected to a regime designed to break his will, his mind, and his body. The world witnessed the brutality of the jailer, who even forced him to eat with his hands handcuffed behind his back. However, the unwavering will of the internationalist stood firm against his oppressor, as strong as a mountain.
* On May 20, 1985, he regained his freedom as part of the prisoner exchange known as Operation Galilee, carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. He continued to be a living symbol of the struggle until the Lebanese state granted him political asylum in the year 2000, in recognition of his combat record, living as a resister until his passing in proud Beirut.
* In 2016, the Popular Front paid tribute to him in recognition of his enduring legacy and his great sacrifices alongside the Palestinian cause.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, today bidding farewell to a brave and pioneering comrade who traveled thousands of kilometers, leaving behind the comforts of his homeland to bear the weight of the Palestinian cause on his shoulders, states that “Ahmad the Japanese” was a genuine member of the Palestinian revolutionary body and a symbol of true internationalism, the kind that believes in global resistance against imperialism. He was born in Japan, carried his soul in the palm of his hand to Palestine, and finally gave it in the suburb of dignity in Beirut, with his head held high, never surrendering it to the enemy.
Furthermore, the Front reaffirms, in honor of his memory and before the entire history of internationalist struggle, its commitment to remain faithful to the path taken, keeping the sword of resistance and the flags of truth raised until the liberation of all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, with Jerusalem as its capital.
May the departure of comrade Kōzō Okamoto be an occasion to strengthen internationalist revolutionary unity against imperialism and global Zionism.
Glory to the soul of the great fighter and all free combatants!