Japan Times 1972: 3 Japanese kill 26 at Tel Aviv

100 YEARS AGO

Saturday, June 24, 1922

Siberian evacuation is definitely decided by Cabinet Council

The Japanese Government has formally decided on the evacuation of Siberia on its own initiative at the earliest opportune possible moment.

The decision, which was reached after a full expression of his views by Lieut.-General Yamanashi, Minister of War, who advised it was formally approved at yesterday’s meeting of the Cabinet Council.

The decision is to be referred to the Diplomatic Advisory Council, which will meet this afternoon at the Premier’s official residence.

The date of the evacuation and other points will be definitely settled by the Cabinet with advice of the Diplomatic Advisory Council. The meeting today will be attended by the Premier and the Minister of War.

According to the plan agreed upon by the Cabinet Council yesterday, the evacuation will be carried out sometime between August and September, next. The first troops to withdraw will be the Eighth division, which is stationed at Vladivostok and its environs. The Eighth division will be followed by the Ninth division, which is stationed in the direction of Spaskaya, Nikoisk, and Soocheng, which will gradually withdraw from the front positions to Vladivostok and clear Siberia by next November, when freezing begins and the port of Vladivostok becomes ice-bound. One regiment may be left in Vladivostok there for the protection of Japanese subjects.

The army authorities have made preliminary preparations for the withdrawal of the troops, including the chartering of several steamers for use as transports.

75 YEARS AGO

Tuesday, June 24,1947

Emperor attends historic opening of National Diet

The historic first session of the National Diet under the new Constitution was formally opened yesterday at 11 a.m. in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor.

“I am very pleased to attend today the opening ceremony of the First Session of the Diet and to meet in one room with you who represent the entire nation,” the Emperor said in his plainly worded Imperial Rescript to the members of the House of Representatives and Councilors who assembled in the Upper House Chamber.

The Emperor attended the ceremony as a “guest” instead of “Supreme Ruler” as in the past.

For the first time in history, the Emperor wore a well-tailored morning coat to the occasion instead of a military uniform. Some of the Diet members were in plain civilian clothes, whereas formal swallow-tails and tuxedos were imperative in the past.

The members of the Cabinet stood together with the legislators on the Diet floor. Formerly, they took their seats on an elevated platform fronting the Chamber.

In the Imperial Rescript, which he read in a clear, firm voice, the Emperor established another precedent by doing away with the “Imperial We” (Chin) and referred to himself in plain first person singular (Watakushi).

Everyone remained standing during the appearance of the Emperor. Mrs. Elizabeth Vining, tutor to the Crown Prince, was among the 500 Allied guests.

50 YEARS AGO

Thursday, June 1, 1972

3 Japanese kill 26 at Tel Aviv

A three-man Japanese suicide squad hired by Arab guerrillas killed 26 people and wounded 72 in a hail of gunfire and exploding grenades in the crowded customs hall at Lod International Airport Tuesday night.

The attackers snatched Russian-made Kalachnikov assault rifles and grenades from suitcases as their luggage arrived by conveyor belt in the hall packed with between 200 and 300 people.

In seconds, the hall was a scene of carnage as the gunmen rushed to various assault positions, indiscriminately spraying passengers and waiting relatives and friends with gunfire and hurling their grenades.

Bodies, dismembered limbs, blood and broken glass splattered the floor, the grains of the dying drowned out by screams and the roar of exploding grenades.

Two of the gunmen, who arrived aboard an Air France plane from Rome, died. One apparently committed suicide by blowing his head off with a grenade and the other was cut down by a companion’s bullets.

The third was captured and told his interrogators he was a member of the left-wing Japanese “Red Army” organization.

There was speculation here on the possibility of Israeli retaliatory action.

Ten Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico — six of them women — and a top Israeli scientist were among the dead in the tragedy described by one official as a “massacre of innocents.”

Premier Golda Meir, tears welling up in her eyes, visited the injured in hospital in the early morning hours.

25 YEARS AGO

Sunday, June 29, 1997

Youth held in slaying of Jun Hase

Police arrested a 14-year-old boy Saturday on suspicion of murdering an 11-year-old schoolboy, whose severed head was left in front of a school gate in Kobe in late May.

The third-year junior high school student lives near the site where Jun Hase’s severed head was found. It had been placed on the ground in front of the gate of Tomogaoka Junior High School on May 27, three days after he went missing.

The suspect was identified only as “Boy A” because he is a minor. He is reportedly a student at the junior high school where Hase’s head was found.

Police said they asked the boy to report to a police station of his own accord Saturday morning, but asked for an arrest warrant after they found items of evidence in a search of the boy’s home later in the day.

The evidence is believed to include a knife and lengths of red masking tape similar to that used to seal letters sent to a local newspaper.

Police charged that the boy strangled Hase in a cable TV antenna station on a hill, known as Tanku Yama, in Kobe’s Suma Ward sometime between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on May 24, severing the head and concealing the body inside the facility.

Hase, who was a student at nearby Tainohata Elementary School, had left his home at about 1:30 p.m. on May 24, saying he would visit his grandfather who lives nearby.

Compiled by Shaun McKenna. In this feature, we delve into The Japan Times’ 125-year archive to present a selection of stories from the past. The Japan Times’ archive is now available in digital format. For more details, see jtimes.jp/de.