Michael Sfard

Michael Sfard (; born 1972) is an Israeli lawyer and political activist specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war. He has served as counsel in various cases on these topics in Israel. Sfard has represented a variety of Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace organizations, movements and activists at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Life and work Michael Sfard was born in 1972 in the Rehov Brazil public housing complex in Kiryat HaYovel, Jerusalem to mathematician Leon Sfard and University of Haifa professor Anna Sfard. Sfard is the grandson of Holocaust survivor and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and writer Janina Bauman.

Sfard's parents were expelled from Poland in 1968 for their involvement in the University of Warsaw student uprisings. When he was five, his family moved to an apartment building in Ma'alot Dafna that was home to many journalists. He completed his legal apprenticeship under Avigdor Feldman and worked with him for several years as an attorney. While in law school, Sfard served as a reservist in the IDF in the Gaza Strip. According to Sfard, before his reserve duty in Gaza, he believed "left-wing soldiers" should agree to patrol the Palestinian territories "to stop bad things from happening" rather than be conscientious objectors. He was released from the army in 1994 and attended a course on Jewish-Arab encounters at Neve Shalom.

In 2000, Sfard and his wife moved to London so that he could pursue a master's degree and to also "to get away" from Israel. The Independent and The Observer.

Legal activities Sfard has represented a variety of Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace organizations, movements and activists at the Israeli Supreme Court. Sfard is legal counsel for Peace Now.

Sfard has supported legal causes such as: A group of Israeli Human Rights organizations that petitioned the High Court against the IDF's decision to reduce the size of the humanitarian "safety zone" during bombardments of Gaza in 2004. Litigation on behalf of the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, against the "permit system" which governs the area between the separation fence and the 1949 armistice line. Represented Peace Now in a petition against settlement outposts. Sfard litigated the cases advocating for the demolition of houses and the evacuation of settlers from the outposts of Amona and Migron. Represented Brian Avery of the International Solidarity Movement, who was injured by IDF soldiers during the course of his activities in Jenin. Avery accepted a settlement for NIS 600,000 (US$150,000) from the state of Israel in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. Represented 17 Bedouins, who lived near Beer Sheva, claiming the land they were on, including Al-Araqeeb, belonged to them rather than to the State of Israel. The judge ruled in favor of the State saying that the land was not "assigned to the plaintiffs, nor held by them under conditions required by law" and that they still had to "prove their rights to the land by proof of its registration in the Tabu". Furthermore, the judge said that the Bedouin knew they were supposed to register, but didn't, saying "although the complainants are not entitled to compensation, it has been willing to negotiate with them…it is a shame that these negotiations did not reach any agreement." The court ordered the Bedouins to pay legal costs of NIS 50,000. Represented Jonathan (Yoni) Ben Artzi who refused to enlist for military service. Ben Artzi considered himself a pacifist and total conscientious objector and therefore objected to serving in the army in any capacity.

Reception The New York Times described Sfard as "the left’s leading lawyer in Israel".

The New America Foundation described Sfard as "Israel's pre-eminent legal expert on settlements and the challenges posed by the broader infrastructure of Israeli occupation to the daily life of Palestinians, to the two-state solution, to American policy and to Israel's democracy" and "Israel's most respected human rights lawyer".

In 2011, a settler from Kiryat Arba was indicted after calling for Sfard's assassination in an Internet posting.