Shlomo Argov - Later Life

Later Life

After being in a coma for three months, Argov regained consciousness, and was returned to Israel. There, he was placed in the rehabilitation ward at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem as a permanent patient. Though he could not move, he remained lucid, and had newspaper headlines read to him for fifteen minutes at a time. He became devastated when he realized the full extent of his condition. After about three years, he was never fully conscious, and he eventually went blind.

Argov was deeply distressed that the attack on him had provoked the Lebanon war. In 1983, he dictated to a friend the following statement from his bed in Hadassah Hospital. The statement was later passed on to the Haaretz newspaper: "If those who planned the war had also foreseen the scope of the adventure, they would have spared the lives of hundreds of our best sons . . . They brought no salvation . . . Israel should go to war only when there is no alternative. Our soldiers should never go to war unless it is vital for survival. We are tired of wars. The nation wants peace."

Argov died at Hadassah Hospital in 2003 aged 73 from the injuries inflicted in the attack. He had been paralyzed and in permanent hospital care for 21 years.