New York Times Publishes Alice Walker Interview Promoting Anti-Semitic Book

The New York Times published an interview with author Alice Walker Sunday in which the author promoted an anti-Semitic book written by longtime conspiracy theorist David Icke.

In an interview titled, “Alice Walker: By the Book,” Walker was asked by the New York Times, “What books are on your nightstand?”

“‘And the Truth Shall Set You Free,’ by David Icke. In Icke’s books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about. A curious person’s dream come true,” she said in part.

David Icke is one of the best known new-age conspiracy theorists in the world and has published numerous books and done speeches wherein he promotes his bizarre worldview.

He has repeatedly promoted the idea that lizard people are present on Earth and controlling the human race. Icke has long been accused of anti-Semitism, and his website is full of anti-Israel stories.

Writer Yair Rosenberg criticized the Times running the interview uncritically.

He writes in Tablet Mag:

This passed without comment from the New York Times interviewer, and the publication passed it on to readers without qualification. This is rather remarkable because the book is an unhinged anti-Semitic conspiracy tract written by one of Britain’s most notorious anti-Semites.

…

In the book and elsewhere, Icke draws liberally upon the infamous anti-Semitic pamphlet, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—a Russian forgery about an alleged global Jewish cabal that is widely considered one of the most influential anti-Semitic works in history. Magnanimously, Icke calls the hate tract by a different name.

The ADL also criticized the Times:

Others chimed in on social media: