NYT Criticized For Allowing An 'Unqualified Endorsement' Of Anti-Semitic Book

[still_one]

The New York Times is standing by its decision to publish Alice Walker’s recommendation of an author known for conspiracy-mongering.

The New York Times is under fire for publishing an interview with author Alice Walker in which she recommends a book by a notorious conspiracy-mongering anti-Semite.
The Times’ By the Book column Sunday printed a Q&A with Walker, and its first question to the Pulitzer winner was what books she keeps on her nightstand.
That’s when she cited David Icke’s And the Truth Shall Set You Free, which discusses at length The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous document accusing Jews of launching a scheme for global domination.
However, Walker described the book favorably, neglecting to mention any contextualizing information and appearing to offer her stamp of approval for the British author.

………


Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told HuffPost the Times made the wrong move. Expressing his criticism in a statement, he emphasized Icke’s history of peddling hate.


We’re deeply disappointed that The New York Times Book Review would print author Alice Walker’s unqualified endorsement of a book by notorious British anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke. His book “And the Truth Shall Set you Free,” calls Judaism an “incredibly racist” religion which preaches “racial superiority,” claims that a “Jewish clique” fomented World War I and World War II as well as the Russian Revolution, and draws heavily on the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” for inspiration. He even casts doubt on the Holocaust and condemns the Nuremberg Trials. He has a long history of scapegoating Jews, and Times readers should be aware of this before considering his work.

Despite Greenblatt’s remarks, a Times spokesperson told HuffPost it stands by its decision to publish the interview as is, without any information on Icke other than Walker’s flattering commentary.

……..

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a respected hate watch group, once wrote about Icke, describing his dangerous ideologies.

More than anyone else, the British conspiracist David Icke has popularized the Alien version of New World Order conspiracy. The former sportscaster’s elaborate theory is the Sgt. Peppers album-cover of the genre, featuring the Masons, the Vatican, the Illuminati, the House of Windsor — everyone is there. At the center of the theory is an alien race of lizard people from the fifth-dimension. Though Icke has always denied trafficking in anti-Semitism, he has endorsed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion — the famous forgery and foundational text of modern anti-Semitism — choosing to call it “The Illuminati Protocols.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alice-walker-book-column-anti-semistism_us_5c17ea1de4b0b1ea387f56c9

Another reference to this:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/17/alice-walker-antisemitic-david-icke-book

This isn't the first time this controversey has been brought up:

"Allegations of anti-Semitism[edit]
In May 2013, Walker expressed appreciation for the works of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke.[39][40][41] On BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, she said that Icke's book Human Race Get Off Your Knees would be her choice if she could have only one book.[42] The book promotes the theory that the Earth is ruled by shapeshifting reptilian humanoids and "Rothschild Zionists." Jonathan Kay of the National Post described the book as "hateful, hallucinogenic nonsense." He wrote that Walker's public praise for Icke's book was "stunningly offensive" and that by taking it seriously, she was disqualifying herself "from the mainstream marketplace of ideas."[43] In 2017, Walker posted a poem to her blog entitled "It Is Our (Frightful) Duty To Study The Talmud."[44][45] In 2018, Walker was asked by a New York Times interviewer, “What books are on your nightstand?” She listed Icke's And the Truth Shall Set You Free, a book promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Walker described the book as, "A curious person’s dream come true."[46] "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker#Allegations_of_anti-Semitism

Here is background on David Icke:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke

[oberliner]

1. This is ugly

Have you seen Alice Walker's poem about The Talmud?

http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2017/11/it-is-our-frightful-duty-to-study-the-talmud/

What is going on there?

[still_one]

2. no I haven't, but her complete distortion of the 6 day war "as being all theater"

is a falsehood

I don't want to engage in a discussion of the middle east conflict, except to say that her view is so one-sided and bias, that I believe it actually does a disservice to the Palestinian cause.

As for her recommendation of the David Icke's book, the only comment I have is I am very disappointed in someone who I thought was a critical thinker

[oberliner]

3. Her comments on the Talmud are the most disturbing to me

And they have nothing to do with the middle east conflict, per se.

[still_one]

4. I know. There is a reason why anti-Jewish accusations have been directed toward her.

I question that she has even read the Talmud based on her foul distortions of it

[Behind the Aegis]

5. She is a disgusting bigot, on par with Henry Ford.

One can be "great" in some aspects, but a disgusting asshole in others. Both Walker and Ford are anti-Semites. Both defended their bigotry.

[still_one]

6. I sure was unaware that this was going on BTA. It was disappointedly eye-opening

[Mosby]

9. same here, I had no idea.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Sadly, I have known this for some time.

The problem she is an icon, so soon as you point out her anti-Semitism the excuses start and then followed by false, distracting, accusations of racism. It reminds us no one is immune from bigotry and hate, and no matter where it settles we MUST call it out.

[still_one]

11. I can understand the defensiveness. It is a natural first reaction for most of us toward someone we

may have held in a higher light, when it is pointed out an egregious flaw in their character, but it is as you said, there should be no excuses for bigotry and hate, and it needs to be called out.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Opinion: How Anti-Semitism Becomes Normal in America

Sunday’s New York Times Book Review featured an interview with the distinguished Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, among other works. Asked “what books are on your nightstand,” Walker replied with four, but it’s the second one that’s alarming:

“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.

I admit I had never heard of David Icke, and the reference to “several other” planets led me to assume the book was an exercise in science fiction. I could not have been more wrong.

In fact, this book “is an unhinged anti-Semitic conspiracy tract written by one of Britain’s most notorious anti-Semites,” in Yair Rosenberg’s words. Among the book’s claims:


That David Icke is an appalling anti-Semite is obvious. But so, evidently, is Alice Walker, who has repeatedly praised Icke’s book. On May 19, 2013, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, for example, Walker says that Icke’s Human Race Get off Your Knees would be her choice for a desert island book. In this work, Icke claims that shape-shifting lizards and “Rothschild Zionists” rule the earth.

more...

[still_one]

8. Thanks for the insight BTA