Pro-Israel Rally Targets CNN Coverage

(Above) – Israeli flags are plentiful outside the CNN Center on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 18.

About 150 people gathered in front of the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 18, to show their support for Israel and criticize media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Organizer Aaron Holder said he was fed up with the reporting on Israel, particularly by CNN, and decided to hold the peaceful rally.

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“I was shocked that only the voices of terrorists were being heard and our voices were being silenced by theirs,” Holder said. “I first tried contacting a couple organizations, asking why there isn’t a rally in public to voice our anguish caused by the lack of accurate news coverage. Instead of waiting for a response, I decided to take action. I made a Facebook event and called on my friends to help get the word out.”

The rally came amid a weeks-long wave of deadly individual Arab attacks on Israelis in which headlines often have focused on the deaths of the Palestinian terrorists instead of their victims.

According to Holder, the rally was planned and executed in less than a week.

Atlanta police made sure the demonstrators were safe. The protest had a stated goal of being peaceful and respectful.

“A successful rally is a safe rally that makes an impact,” said Holder, who attended Bar-Ilan University in Israel. “Even if we affected one individual for the better, we have done a good job. Thankfully, I think we did a spectacular job showing Jewish pride and doing mitzvot. We even had people from Iran, who were protesting across the street against their leadership, come to shake our hands and wave our flags. That was a beautiful moment.”

After the rally, Holder and other demonstrators attended an Atlanta Hawks preseason game against the Miami Heat at Phillips Arena with Israeli flags in tow.