Pollak was detained in January 2008 by plain clothes police at a Critical Mass bicycle ride held in Tel Aviv to protest Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip.
His conviction, for illegal assembly, activated an older three-month suspended sentence from an earlier trial in which Pollak was charged with protesting Israel's illegal separation wall. The judge imposed an additional three months prison term which will be served concurrently, the committee said.
"The police not only singled out Pollak from a crowd of people who all did exactly as he did, but also singled out the entire protest for no reason other than its political alignment. Similar events regularly take place in Tel Aviv without police intervention, let alone arrests and indictments." said Gaby Lasky, Pollak's lawyer.
In court, Pollak argued for his sentence, explaining, "I find myself unable to express remorse in this case.
"If His Honor decides to go ahead and impose my suspended prison sentence, I will go to prison wholeheartedly and with my head held high.
It will be the justice system itself, I believe, that ought to lower its eyes in the face of the suffering inflicted on Gaza's inhabitants, just like it lowers its eyes and averts its vision each and every day when faced with the realities of the occupation."
Pollak told the court that the political nature of the case could not be sidestepped.
"The State of Israel maintains an illegitimate, inhuman and illegal siege on the Gaza Strip, which still is occupied territory according to international law.
This siege, carried out in my name and in yours as well, sir, in fact in all of our names, is a cruel collective punishment inflicted on ordinary citizens, residents of the Gaza strip, subjects-without-rights under Israeli occupation.
"In the face of this reality, and as a stance against it, we chose on January 31st, 2008, to exercise the freedom of speech afforded to Jewish citizens of Israel.
However, it appears that here in our one-of-many-faux-democracies in the Middle East, even this freedom is no longer freely granted, even to society's privileged sons."
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