In a post on her website published in response to the outrage over her By the Book interview, Walker writes of Icke, “I do not believe he is anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. It is impossible to miss it.”īoth Walker and Icke have contested the idea that Icke is anti-Semitic. He adds, “Anti-Semitism is not incidental to Icke’s book, it is essential. “The only thing that is accomplished by uncritically disseminating Walker’s bigoted book bon mots is ensuring that the racism is disseminated to more people,” wrote Yair Rosenberg in a widely circulated article in Tablet. Walker’s recommendation, and the New York Times’s decision to publish it without comment, has attracted widespread outrage. Icke’s books, Walker says, are “a curious person’s dream come true.” “In Icke’s books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about,” Walker said in the column, specifically noting And the Truth Shall Set You Free, in which Icke variously argues both that Jews funded the Holocaust and that maybe the Holocaust did not happen. (Vox has reached out to Walker and Walker’s publisher, Atria, for comment.) While Walker has previously recommended Icke’s work on her blog, this is the first time her apparent affinity for him has gone quite so public. Icke is best known for arguing that the world is run by a secret cabal of alien lizard people, many of whom are Jewish. Walker has flirted with anti-Semitism for years, but the public at large seemed to ignore it - until last weekend, when she took some time in her New York Times Book Review “ By the Book” interview to admiringly shout out David Icke. Alice Walker, the beloved activist and author of The Color Purple, is under fire for promoting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.