The Japanese Red Army was a communist military group founded by Fusako Shigenobu in 1971. Its goal was for proletarian revolution in Japan and global revolution as well, and was also called the Anti-Imperialist International Brigade, Holy War Brigade, Anti-War Democratic Front, and the Arab-JRA because of its role in the Lod Airport massacre of 1972. The group was replaced by the Movement Rentai in 2001.
History[]
The Japanese Red Army was founded by Fusako Shigenobu in 1971 in Japan, with the goal of starting a proletarian revolution in Japan. The organization was originally a Marxist-Leninist militant group, but evolved into an Anti-Zionist and terrorist organization as well. It came to international attention in 1970 with the hijacking and hostage-taking of the passengers of Japan Airlines Flight 351, and its members were given asylum in North Korea after surrendering the hostages. On 30 May 1972 it began a policy of anti-Zionism with the massacre of primarily Puerto Rican civilians in Israel at the Lod Airport, and it is widely speculated that the crash of Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 in Johore was their responsibility.
However, the group did not gain much international attention after the Golden Age of Air Hijacking ended with the close of the 1970s, and the imprisoned Shigenobu declared that the group had disbanded in 2001. The last members of the organization surrendered in 2011, and were held in maximum-security prisons. The Movement Rentai organization was founded as a successor group.