The Coma

After a serious car accident in 1979 when he was 23 years old, Ben fell into a coma, not awakening until mid-2025. A lot of years and changes to catch up on - both with family and world affairs.

For the first month, Ben spent time with serious physio, recuperating physically and mentally and catching up on changes with family and friends before starting to get to grips with the many changes since in the world outside. His daughter, Laura, now 47 and his wife, Miriam, 66, are in the room with him. Ben is now 68.

Coma Ben: So, Trump is now President?

Laura: Yes, second term now. The Democrats had a term in-between.

Coma Ben: (Shakes his head, smiling). He was just a real-estate mogul before my big sleep… didn’t have anything to do with politics.

Miriam: (Smiles back tamely). Yes, a lot of changes over the years.

Coma Ben: (Nods, thoughtful) I’ve been watching the news the past week, and what I don’t understand is all these street protests in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. How long has that war been going on?

Laura: Over eighteen months now.

Coma Ben: And how many killed overall?

Miriam: Forty-three to forty-seven thousand. Estimates vary.

Coma Ben: Yes, that is a lot. Have there been similar wars over the years?

Laura: Nothing as large in Israel or the Palestinian territories. Just a lot of terrorist attacks and reprisals. But there have been other major wars with similar jihadists.

Coma Ben: (Raises a brow) Jihadists?

Laura: Extreme Islamists similar to Hamas in Gaza who kill in the name of Allah. There was a serious attacks over twenty years ago, known as 9/11, in which a Jihadist group known as Al-Qaeda flew planes into the twin towers in New York, killing more than three thousand. And another attack not long after in London killing over fifty. That resulted in major wars from a coalition of USA and UK forces going after the Jihadists in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Coma Ben: And how many killed in those two wars?

Laura: Over three hundred thousand in Afghanistan and eight hundred thousand in Iraq.

Coma Ben: I see in the news claims of ‘genocide’ against Israel in this current war in Gaza. Were there the same claims against the USA and UK for those wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Laura: No, there weren’t.

Coma Ben: Despite the death tolls from USA and UK forces being many times more?

Miriam: I know. The news has been biased against Israel for some while now. Must be hard for you to take in and understand having just awoken after all these years.

Coma Ben: Believe me, I’m trying to understand. That’s why I’m asking all these questions now.

Miriam: (Nods). Part of the death toll in Iraq was also because of another Jihadist group arising there, ISIS, who killed many minority groups there and also hundreds in terrorist attacks in Europe.

Coma Ben: So, many terrorist attacks over the years in the West from these Jihadists.

Laura: Yes, quite a few. Apart from 9/11 and 7/7, there’s been Charlie Hebdo, Madrid train bombing, Nice truck massacre, Bataclan, Ariana Grande Concert, Christmas market in Germany… thousands killed overall.

Coma Ben: Any attacks from Israel or Jews?

Laura: No, none.

Coma Ben: (Shakes his head). Let me get this clear. So, over the past decades there have been numerous attacks in the West from these Jihadists who share the same aims and killing in the name of Allah as this group in Gaza, Hamas… yet all the street protests we see are against Israel and in support of the Palestinians and Hamas. That doesn’t make any sense.

Laura: It’s a complex situation. But I think most of the demonstrators, who are decidedly from the left-wing, see Hamas as ‘freedom fighting’ underdogs.

Coma Ben: I see (thoughtful). But these other terrorist groups – Al Qaeda and ISIS – were they ever seen the same way as ‘freedom fighting’ underdogs, with similar street protests in support of them?

Miriam: No, they weren’t.

Coma Ben: So, once again, as with the ‘genocide’ claim, we see Israel the only one singled out for acrimony. Appears to me simply a revival of the age-old Jew-bashing I thought had died out years ago when I was in the land of the living – but this time with Israel put in the frame.

Miriam: (Reaches out and pats his hand). You’re not the only one who thinks that, but so often our voices get drowned out these days.

Coma Ben: (Looks from Miriam to Laura). I daresay your mother might have already shared with you why I take a special interest in this subject. The kibbutz where I first met her was not far from the border kibbutzim where the massacres took place which ignited this current war. But that was not unusual for English students of my generation. I had three friends from my same class who did the same. We were married within the year… but sadly with my accident I wasn’t there for your birth. (Fresh breath) With all the Palestinian terrorist attacks with plane hijackings and the Munich massacre, nearly all the street demonstrations I and my fellow students took part in were in support of Israel. So it takes some getting used to seeing those same Uni students protesting in support of the Palestinians. As if I’ve arrived back in a topsy-turvy world and I’m trying to make sense of it. (Looks pointedly at Laura). What was it like when you were at Uni? Was there still support for Israel?

Laura: A reasonable bit. There was growing support for the Palestinians, but with them being busy with a suicide bombing campaign, blowing apart Israeli women and children every other week in café’s and on buses, the left-wing seemed reluctant to throw their weight fully behind them.

Coma Ben: So, what has brought about the change?

Miriam: Paradoxically, it was the security changes made by Israel in response to those bombings with fences, divides and soldiers at checkpoints. They started being termed as ‘apartheid’ divides and ‘occupation’, and the Palestinians were suddenly seen as more isolated underdogs. It’s been a steady drip-drip anti-Israel process ever since.

Coma Ben: (Gestures). But surely all it would have taken is a few smart journalists to see through that as simply a name-tagging propaganda exercise. Anyone in their right mind can see those measures were purely security driven rather than ‘apartheid’.

Laura: I’m afraid the media have become part of the problem. With the left-wing becoming increasingly anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, many of the left-wing protestors you now see in pro-Palestinian marches in fact join the media when they leave Uni.

Coma Ben: (Shakes his head). I suppose I’m still stuck in the era of Woodward and Bernstein where smart journalists focused on unearthing the truth rather than just repeating spoon-fed propaganda.

Miriam: (Gently clasps Ben’s hand). You could hardly get more left-wing than us when we met in that kibbutz. A working farm co-operative like that is the very essence of left-wing Socialism. And that remains the case with the kibbutzim of today, including those attacked on October 7^th.

Coma Ben: So, today’s left-wing supported a Jihadist group that massacred those in left-wing kibbutzim? (Sighs) Is it our values that have changed, Miriam, or those of the left wing?

Miriam: I like to think my values haven’t changed over the years, and of course yours have been frozen in time from over forty years ago. But it wasn’t just us that supported Israel because I was Jewish and we met on a kibbutz – as you said, most of our fellow students held the same view. So it looks more likely to be today’s left-wing that has changed.

Laura: (Nods solemnly) Appears to be the case. Because apart from the kibbutzim, Hamas also killed 350 young left-wing ‘peacenik’ concert-goers. And at another concert here in Glastonbury, a crowd of fellow concert-goers cheered on the Palestinians and the terrorists and chanted for the death of the IDF.

Coma Ben: (Grimaces tautly). A topsy-turvy world indeed. What have I woken up to?

Miriam: (Clasps his hand tighter). It’s not all bad. There have been a number of good changes. And now that you’re back, as Kate Bush said – you always have us.

Coma Ben: Who?

Miriam: Singer from the 1980s. I’ll play some of her records for you.

Coma Ben: Look forward to it. (Smiles wryly) Just that I can’t help thinking – while I’ve been asleep for forty-five years, it’s half of the world outside that’s become brain-dead rather than me.

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John Matthews is an experienced writer and journalist. The author of 24 books, including two centred around WW2 and the holocaust in the name of J.C. Maetis (his father’s original Jewish name) his first experience of writing about the Middle East came as a war correspondent covering the last years of the Lebanese Civil War, which led to his second book, ‘The Crescents of the Moon’. He has since written on the subject for a number of journals, including The Times, Sunday Times, Newsweek, The Independent and The Spectator. He was also in the run-up to the millennium editor of European Brief, the main magazine for the European Parliament, editing the likes of Tony Blair, Al Gore and Henry Kissinger on subjects ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall and European unity, climate change and nuclear fusion to, once again, the Middle East. He lives in London with his wife and family.

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