Michael Sfard

Michael Sfard, (born 1972), is a lawyer specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war. He has served as counsel in numerous important cases on these topics in Israel. Sfard is identified with the left and has represented many left wing and Palestinian organizations at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Life and work

Michael Sfard was born in Jerusalem. He is the grandson of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and writer Janina Bauman on his mother's side and of poet David Sfard and Cinema Studies Professor Regina Dreyer on his father's side.^[1] His father Leon is a mathematician and his mother Anna Sfard is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Education at the University of Haifa.^[2] His parents immigrated to Israel from Poland at the end of the 1960s, after they were involved in the University of Warsaw student rebellions against the Communist Government in 1968. His father spent time in Polish jail as a result of his involvement in the student struggle.

Sfard grew up in Jerusalem, where he studied at the Rene Cassin high school, and was a member of the Movement for Civil Rights and Peace (Ratz) youth group. He served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Noar Halutzi Lohem (Nahal) Brigade (lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) as a military paramedic. Sfard was a conscientious objector and spent three weeks in military prison because of his refusal to serve in Hebron. He completed his legal studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, after which he apprenticed with Attorney Avigdor Feldman and worked in Feldman's office for five years. During this period, he spent one year studying in London, where he completed a master's degree in International Human Rights Law. In early 2004, Sfard opened his own office in Tel Aviv.

Sfard was a local reporter for the Jerusalem Newspaper Kol Hair, where he wrote about legal issues. Over the years, he has written many opinion pieces and has been published in professional legal journals, primarily in English. Sfard is married to Nirit Ben-Horin, a fashion designer.

Legal activities

Michael Sfard's legal practice focuses on human rights and military law, which are centrally relevant to the issue of Israeli rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sfard represents human rights organizations, Israelis and Palestinians, communities (local councils and villages), committees and individuals. His specialty is Supreme Court petitions and Sfard has filed over 100 over the course of his career.

Sfard is the legal adviser of the human rights organization Yesh Din which deals with law enforcement on Israeli citizens and the IDF in the West Bank.^[3] Sfard is also the legal counsel of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project.^[4] Both as counsel for Yesh Din and for Peace Now Sfard led and is still leading legal campaigns for the evacuation of illegal settlements and outposts built in the occupied West Bank. Sfard has handled numerous petitions concerning the Separation Barrier. Of these, to this date, he was victorious in three, the most famous of which was the Bil'in village case. Sfard has represented many Palestinian prisoners in front of parole boards and occasionally makes appearances in military courts.

The cases which Sfard has handled include:

• Courage to Refuse (Ometz LeSarev) – an organization of conscientious objector reservists, Yesh Gvul (lit. There is a Limit) – the oldest conscientious objector organization, the members of the Pilot's Letter and the members of the Special Squad's Letter. Sfard has litigated petitions against IDF practices in the Occupied territories, among them the case filed on behalf of the Public Committee Against torture in Israel against the Israeli policy of targeted killings (which he litigated together with Avigdor Feldman).^[5]
• Sfard filed a petition on behalf of a group of Israeli Human Rights organizations against the IDF decision to reduce the size of the humanitarian "safety zone" during bombardments of Gaza.^[6]
• Sfard is litigating a long pending case on behalf of the Israeli human rights organization "Hamoked for the protection of the individual", against the "permit system" which governs the area between the separation fence and the green line, and which bars Palestinians from entering the zone without a permit, while enabling Israelis to move to and from the zone freely. Sfard argued that this policy has Apartheid characteristics.^[7]
• Sfard petitioned the state, on behalf of Yesh-Gvul and a group of Israeli writers and poets, for the annulment of the appointment of Dan Halutz to the position of Deputy Chief of General Staff, together with Avigdor Feldman.
• Sfard handled the case of conscientious objector David Zonshein, who refused to serve in the territories, together with Feldman.^[8]
• Sfard represented Peace Now in a petition against settlement outposts. Most notably Sfard litigated the case for the demolition of nine villages built illegally on Palestinian private land, in the outpost known as "Amona". He also litigates the case in which Peace Now demands to evacuate the flagship outpost "Migron".^[9]
• Targeted Killings Supreme Court Case

In this case, Sfard, together with Avigdor Feldman, petitioned against the IDF policy of Targeted Killings, in which the IDF has, without trial, initiated liquidations of citizens in the territories who are suspected of being terrorists. The Supreme Court rejected the petition and ruled that the IDF is allowed to kill terrorists, with certain qualifications.

Additional Cases

Sfard has represented a biology student who requested that the university exempt her from participating in animal experimentation. The case ended with a settlement that approved her exemption from the experiments.

Sfard has represented Tali – the royalties Company of the Israeli Film and Television directors and screenplay writers, and has represented directors, script writers, and authors in copyright issues.

Sfard has represented the families of three foreign citizens who died as a result of IDF activities in the territories: the family of British photojournalist James Miller, who died in Rafah (Gaza), and the families of two activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who died during the course of their activities in separate incidents. These two cases involved Tom Hurndall, who died in Rafah, and the American Rachel Corrie, who was run over in Rafah by an IDF Caterpillar D-9.

A similar case involved the International Solidarity Movement's (ISM) Brian Avery, who was wounded during the course of his activities in Jenin. Avery was injured by IDF soldiers in the head, and suffered from clinical facial mutilation and numerous related medical problems. Sfard represented him in his efforts to obtain a criminal investigation of the incident. In the framework of this effort a petition was presented to the Supreme Court that instructed the Military Advocate General to open an investigation, which is currently being conducted (2007).^[10]

Sfard has represented foreign workers in their efforts to obtain Israeli citizenship.

Sfard represented a number of adoptive parents in the Ethics Tribunal of the Israel Press Association in a petition against Yediot Achronot regarding an article that determined that children adopted from abroad become criminals and prostitutes at high rates as adults. Yediot Achronot was forced to publish an apology as well as the tribunal's ruling in the newspaper. The tribunal ruled that if the petition had been filed not only against the newspaper, but also against the reporters, the ruling would have barred those reporters from practicing journalism.

Sfard represented the Israeli NGO "Let Animals Live" in a petition filed against the Weizmann Institute, which sought a cessation of experiments with monkeys at the institute's neurobiology department.

Books

Michael Sfard wrote the biography of the Soviet spy Marcus Klingberg, which was published in 2007 by Maariv. The book was written by Sfard and Klingberg together. The book exposed for the first time that Klinberg recruited agents for the KGB. The recruited spies included Klinberg's wife and a scientist whose identity was not exposed in the book but according to Klingberg, was a member of a committee with a high security classification that advised the Ministry of Defense.

In 2008 Sfard published The Wall of Folly, which he wrote with Reserves Brigadier General Shaul Arieli.^[11]

Published work

• Dov Hanin, Michael Sfard, Sharon Rotbard, editors, The Refusenik Trials: The Military Prosecution of Hagai Matar, Matan Kaminer, Noam Bahat Shimri Tsameret, Adam Maor. The Military Prosecution of Yonatan Ben-Artzi, Babel, 2004.
• Markus Klingberg, The Last Spy, written together with Michael Sfard, Tel Aviv, Maariv Hed Artzi, 2007. Sfard wrote the autobiography of Klingberg, a spy for the Soviet Union, who Sfard represented in numerous petitions.
• Shaul Arieli and Michael Sfard, Wall of Folly, Yediot Sfarim, Tel Aviv, 2008.

References

1. ^ Interview with Zygmunt Bauman
2. ^ Anna Sfard
3. ^ Yesh Din Website
4. ^ Legal Petition
5. ^ Occupation Magazine
6. ^ Gaza Petition
7. ^ Text of Speech about Separation Barrier Case
8. ^ Listserve about case
9. ^ Haaretz Article
10. ^ Who Shot Brian Avery?
11. ^ Haaretz Article

External links

• Recent New York Times article mining in the West Bank
• Haaretz article on mining in the West Bank

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Name	Sfard, Michael
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Date of birth	1972
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