Author Alice Walker has hit back at criticism for recommending a book by notorious antisemite David Icke, saying people are trying to stop those "speaking out in support of the people of Palestine".

Ms Walker caused a a firestorm when she told the New York Times Mr Icke's And the Truth Shall Set You Free was among the books on her nightstand.

Mr Icke, a former BBC sports broadcaster turned conspiracy theorist, is known for his references to “Rothschild Zionists” controlling world events, and promotes the ideas of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

According to the Tablet, Mr Icke mentions the word “Jewish” in the book 241 times and “Rothschild” 374 times.

Writing on her website after the controversy, Ms Walker said: “I find Icke’s work to be very important to humanity’s conversation, especially at this time. I do not believe he is antisemitic or anti-Jewish.”

She said Mr Icke was “brave enough to ask the questions others fear to ask, and to speak his own understanding of the truth wherever it might lead. 

“Many attempts have been made to censor and silence him. As a woman, and a person of color, as a writer who has been criticized and banned myself, I support his right to share his own thoughts.”

She said she believed the criticism was an “attempt to smear David Icke, and by association, me,” and to “dampen the effect of our speaking out in support of the people of Palestine.”

Ms Walker, who is a supporter of the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement, said the “Israeli occupation of Palestine, and ending the slaughter of Palestinians demands my stepping up to my responsibility to wage ‘war’ without violence". 

“Pacifists have no option, really, but to make our resistance felt through non-compliance with injustice and brutality.”

She tried to defend her reading of Mr Icke by suggesting she reads “everything”.

She said: “I even tried once to read Mein Kampf but found it too steeped in German history to make sense. It also seemed pedantic and boring. But after hearing so much about it, I wanted to know what it said for myself.”

She said she had also tried to read the Koran and pound problematic extracts in both the Talmud, and the Bible.

But Mr Icke was among writers who “dig around in the past to try to find out what it is. Awareness is key and we are lucky that there are people, intelligent ones, who care enough to raise it.”

New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul defended the paper for running the recommendation of Mr Icke's book.

Ms Paul said: “What people choose to read or not read and what books they find to be influential or meaningful say a lot about who they are.

“If people espouse beliefs that anyone at The Times finds to be dangerous or immoral, it’s important for readers to be aware that they hold those beliefs. The public deserves to know. That’s news.”

She said she trusted the readers “to sift through something that someone says in an interview, whether it’s the president or a musician or a person accused of sexual harassment, and to judge for themselves: Do I agree with this person?”