The State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court against Jonathan Pollak, a 42-year-old resident of Tel Aviv, for offenses of incitement to violence based on statements he published in Haaretz and a speech he gave before an audience. The indictment states that in June 2020, Pollak published a column in the digital edition of the newspaper titled ‘I'm Going Back to Jail’ in which he wrote calls for violence or statements praising and encouraging acts of violence. Among other things, he wrote: "To truly join the struggle to topple Israeli apartheid, the small number of Israeli Jewish citizens who wish to do so must highlight their privileges and be prepared to pay the price of giving them up. We must cross the lines and break the law. Despite the cost, we must learn to throw stones and Molotov cocktails." Related articles: Haaretz columnist sits down with antisemitic podcast host Sara Netanyahu seeks restraining order against journalist MK Tzvi Succot mocks MK Yair Lapid: 'Racism is ugly' IDF broke international law in Gaza A few hours later, an editor on the site, without Pollak's knowledge, removed the words "and break the law. Despite the cost, we must join the children of stones and Molotov bottles." In the second charge, it is stated that in June 2021, Pollak gave a speech at the 'Tzavta' club in Tel Aviv before dozens of people, at a conference where he received an award from the ‘Yesh Gvul’ movement. Pollak was introduced by the award presenter as one of the founders of ‘Anarchists Against the Wall’ and a spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Coordination Committee. In the speech, which was also uploaded to YouTube, he said: "When whites in South Africa opposed apartheid, they did not do so as representatives of the settler society seeking to fix it, improve it, or save it. They joined as a minority, some even took up arms, and fought to topple the apartheid and colonialism regime. The same is true here in Palestine. To truly join the struggle to topple Israeli apartheid, the few Jewish settlers who wish to join, must oppose the essence of the colonial regime... we must seek and find our way into the Palestinian liberation movement." He also said: "To truly join the struggle to topple Israeli apartheid, our minority, the Jewish settlers who wish to join the Palestinian struggle, must give up the aspiration to color the struggle in ways comfortable to Israeli society and replace it with genuine, actual participation in the Palestinian liberation struggle under their leadership... what is required of us is to cross the lines and walk beside the children with stones and Molotov cocktails against oppression and injustice. Whether in Beita, Bab al-Amud, or a few kilometers from here in Jaffa."
