Richard Ben Cramer

March 30, 2005

How Israel Lost: Flippant Book by Former Reporter Aims Darts at Israel

How Israel Lost: The Four Questions
By Richard Ben Cramer
Simon & Schuster, 2004
Richard Ben Cramer's latest book disappoints on all counts. Far from changing the boundaries of discussion, it contains neither an original thesis nor trenchant argument. Instead, the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian situation are reduced to the hackneyed superficialities of Israel's detractors.
October 13, 2004

NPR’s Derogates Israel and Religious Jews

On June 12, 2004, NPR's Scott Simon interviewed Richard Ben Cramer on the topic of the latter's newly released book How Israel Lost: The Four Questions. Though panned by numerous critics who faulted its deceptive depiction of Israel's security needs, Simon chatted appreciatively with the author, urging him to repeat from his book an anecdote about religious Jews that was evidently apocryphal and meant solely to ridicule the religious establishment in Israel. Simon did not stop there. He concluded with a remarkable question posed to the guest that may be a window on NPR attitudes about Israel.