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Michael Sfard

Michael Sfard (Hebrew: מיכאל ספרד; born 1972) is a 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.[1][2]

Michael Sfard

Life and work

Michael Sfard was born in 1972 in the Rehov Brazil public housing complex in Kiryat HaYovel, Jerusalem.[3]

Sfard is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors. His parents had been expelled from Poland for their involvement in the University of Warsaw student uprisings against the Communist Government in 1968.[4][5][6] When he was five, his family moved to an apartment building in Ma'alot Dafna that was home to many journalists.[3][7]

Sfard completed a law degree (LLB) at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[8]

He was a reservist for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip while at law school.[9] He served in the Nahal Brigade of the IDF, mostly in Lebanon, as a military paramedic.[1][7] 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.[9]

While serving in Gaza his views changed, and in a later reservist session, Sfard became a conscientious objector and spent three weeks in military prison due to his refusal to serve as escort for Israeli settlers in Hebron.[1][9][10] He was released from the army in 1994 and attended a course on Jewish-Arab encounters at Neve Shalom. He started his legal apprenticeship with Avigdor Feldman in 1998 and worked with him for several years as an attorney.[7]

In 2000, Sfard and his wife moved to London so that he could pursue a master's degree, but he says it was also "to get away" from Israel.[7][9] He studied international human rights law, "discovered the subject [he] wanted to work in" and returned the following year having decided that emigration from Israel was "a tragedy".[7][9]

He completed his Master of Laws at University College London.[8] Shortly after Sfard returned, he attended the first conference of the group Courage to Refuse, "saw 200 people who thought and felt like [he] did", and decided to be an activist.[7] In early 2004, Sfard opened his own office in Tel Aviv.[9]

Sfard has described Shulamit Aloni as a "major influence" who introduced him through her activities to the world of human rights in Israel.[7]

Sfard's has expressed his views on the role the media play in his work. He feels that "the media are an important part of the work. They are a tool." In addition, he said that media can influence or create the debate. But, he also said that "I, as any lawyer, have a fear of cameras entering the sanctified zone between the lawyer and the client."[7]

Articles by Sfard have been published by Haaretz,[11] The Independent[12] and The Observer.[13]

Sfard is the grandson of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and writer Janina Bauman on his mother's side and of Communist Yiddish author David Sfard and Cinema Studies Professor Regina Dreyer on his father's side.[14] His father Leon is a mathematician and his mother Anna Sfard is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Education at the University of Haifa.[15]

His parents emigrated 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.[9]

Legal activities

Sfard has represented a variety of Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace organizations, movements and activists at the Israeli Supreme Court.[2] His clients are "mostly Palestinians who live in the West Bank and need permits to come into Israel."[1]

According to the New York Times, he has brought many cases to challenge the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, represented hundreds of Israeli soldiers who have refused to serve, with the work mostly being financed "by Israel's premier left-wing nonprofit organizations, which in turn are financed in part by European governments".[1] Sfard and his law office provide legal counsel for Yesh Din.[16] Sfard is legal counsel for Peace Now.[9][17]

Cases which Sfard has handled include:

  • 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.[18]
  • Sfard has litigated a case 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.[19]
  • Sfard represented Peace Now in a petition against settlement outposts. Sfard litigated the case for the demolition of nine houses built illegally on Palestinian private land, in the outpost known as "Amona".[citation needed] He also litigates the case in which Peace Now demands to evacuate an outpost called "Migron".[20]
  • A case involving the International Solidarity Movement's Brian Avery, who was wounded during the course of his activities in Jenin. Avery was injured in the head by IDF soldiers. Avery accepted a settlement for NIS 600,000 (USD $150,000) from the state of Israel in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. Shlomo Lecker was his Israeli lawyer and Sfard represented him as well.[citation needed]
  • Sfard and co-counsel Carmel Pomerantz, 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 Bedouins 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 50,000NIS.[21]

Reception

The New York Times described Sfard as "the left’s leading lawyer in Israel".[1]

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".[22]

In 2011, a settler from Kiryat Arba was indicted after calling for his assassination in an Internet posting.[1]

Israeli Knesset Member Danny Danon of the right-wing Likud party accused Sfard of "trying to bypass democracy" through promoting ideas in the Israeli "legal system because his ideas are not welcome in Israeli society."[9]

Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, said that Sfard "sees the courts as the way to force the changes that he perceives as necessary for Israel, [b]ut he doesn't convince the Israeli public. In any democratic process, you can't use just the legal system to impose an ideology."[1]

Naftali Balanson, Managing Editor of NGO Monitor, said Sfard "is at the center of the NGO industry that exploits the rhetoric of human rights in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict."[9]

Books

  • 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.
  • The Last Spy (2007), the biography of the Soviet spy Marcus Klingberg, written by Klingberg with Sfard.[23]
  • Homa v'mehdal (English title The Wall of Folly) (2008), about the West Bank barrier, written by Reserves Brigadier General Shaul Arieli and Sfard.[24]
  • The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights (2018)[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Jodi Rudoren (27 July 2012). "A Champion for the Displaced in Israel". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b "Michael Sfard". Haaretz.
  3. ^ a b Dan Izenberg (18 September 2009). "Young Israelis of the year: Michael Sfard, 37: A lawyer and a gentleman". The Jerusalem Post.
  4. ^ Rudoren, Jodi (27 Jul 2012). "A Champion for the Displaced in Israel". New York Times.
  5. ^ Frister, Roman (1 September 2011). "Polish-Jewish Sociologist Compares West Bank Separation Fence to Warsaw Ghetto Walls". Haaretz.
  6. ^ "Lawyer Michael Sfard is effective voice for Palestinians". Ynet. Associated Press. 23 December 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Interview with Michael Sfard". Just Vision.
  8. ^ a b "List of Attorneys" (PDF). U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem. July 2012. p. 6.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nathan Jeffay (6 May 2012). "Lone Lawyer Battles Illegal Settlements". Forward.
  10. ^ Peretz Kidron (2004). Refusenik!: Israel's Soldiers of Conscience. Zed Books. p. 83. ISBN 978-1842774519.
  11. ^
    • Michael Sfard (14 September 2005). "Either High Court, or House of Lords". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (5 June 2008). "Welcome to year 41". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (29 April 2011). "The legal tsunami is on its way". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (8 August 2011). "In his father's name". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (12 June 2012). "Occupation double-speak". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (10 July 2012). "Occupation no more". Haaretz.
    • Michael Sfard (25 July 2012). "Israel's crackdown on UN aid organization part of an assault on democracy". Haaretz.
  12. ^ Michael Sfard (3 February 2010). "Michael Sfard: Laws of conflict do not allow for killing civilians in this way". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14.
  13. ^ Michael Sfard (19 May 2002). "Why Israel's 'seruvniks' say enough is enough". The Observer.
  14. ^ Interview with Zygmunt Bauman
  15. ^ Anna Sfard
  16. ^ Yesh Din Website
  17. ^ Peace Now's Lawyer on Israel's Illegal Outpost Policy, peacenow.org; accessed 9 June 2017.
  18. ^ Gaza Petition
  19. ^ Text of Speech about Separation Barrier Case
  20. ^ "Government proposes relocating Migron outpost to Adam settlement". Haaretz. The Associated Press. 4 November 2008.
  21. ^ Court rejects 6 Beduin Negev land lawsuits, jpost.com; accessed 9 June 2017.
  22. ^ "Settlements and the Occupation: An Israeli Legal Perspective". New America Foundation. 15 July 2009.
  23. ^ Yitzhak Laor (25 October 2007). "Not afraid to go all the way". Haaretz.
  24. ^ Shuki Sadeh (5 June 2008). "Waste not, wall not". Haaretz.
  25. ^ The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights. 23 January 2018.

External links

  • Ben Lynfield (17 May 2012). "Interview: Michael Sfard, the Israeli lawyer battling illegal settlements". The Christian Science Monitor.
  • Michael Sfard on Twitter

michael, sfard, hebrew, מיכאל, ספרד, born, 1972, lawyer, political, activist, specializing, international, human, rights, laws, served, counsel, various, cases, these, topics, israel, sfard, represented, variety, israeli, palestinian, human, rights, peace, org. Michael Sfard Hebrew מיכאל ספרד born 1972 is a 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 1 2 Michael Sfard Contents 1 Life and work 1 1 Legal activities 2 Reception 3 Books 4 References 5 External linksLife and work EditMichael Sfard was born in 1972 in the Rehov Brazil public housing complex in Kiryat HaYovel Jerusalem 3 Sfard is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors His parents had been expelled from Poland for their involvement in the University of Warsaw student uprisings against the Communist Government in 1968 4 5 6 When he was five his family moved to an apartment building in Ma alot Dafna that was home to many journalists 3 7 Sfard completed a law degree LLB at Hebrew University of Jerusalem 8 He was a reservist for the Israeli Defense Forces IDF in the Gaza Strip while at law school 9 He served in the Nahal Brigade of the IDF mostly in Lebanon as a military paramedic 1 7 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 9 While serving in Gaza his views changed and in a later reservist session Sfard became a conscientious objector and spent three weeks in military prison due to his refusal to serve as escort for Israeli settlers in Hebron 1 9 10 He was released from the army in 1994 and attended a course on Jewish Arab encounters at Neve Shalom He started his legal apprenticeship with Avigdor Feldman in 1998 and worked with him for several years as an attorney 7 In 2000 Sfard and his wife moved to London so that he could pursue a master s degree but he says it was also to get away from Israel 7 9 He studied international human rights law discovered the subject he wanted to work in and returned the following year having decided that emigration from Israel was a tragedy 7 9 He completed his Master of Laws at University College London 8 Shortly after Sfard returned he attended the first conference of the group Courage to Refuse saw 200 people who thought and felt like he did and decided to be an activist 7 In early 2004 Sfard opened his own office in Tel Aviv 9 Sfard has described Shulamit Aloni as a major influence who introduced him through her activities to the world of human rights in Israel 7 Sfard s has expressed his views on the role the media play in his work He feels that the media are an important part of the work They are a tool In addition he said that media can influence or create the debate But he also said that I as any lawyer have a fear of cameras entering the sanctified zone between the lawyer and the client 7 Articles by Sfard have been published by Haaretz 11 The Independent 12 and The Observer 13 Sfard is the grandson of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and writer Janina Bauman on his mother s side and of Communist Yiddish author David Sfard and Cinema Studies Professor Regina Dreyer on his father s side 14 His father Leon is a mathematician and his mother Anna Sfard is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Education at the University of Haifa 15 His parents emigrated 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 9 Legal activities Edit Sfard has represented a variety of Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace organizations movements and activists at the Israeli Supreme Court 2 His clients are mostly Palestinians who live in the West Bank and need permits to come into Israel 1 According to the New York Times he has brought many cases to challenge the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories represented hundreds of Israeli soldiers who have refused to serve with the work mostly being financed by Israel s premier left wing nonprofit organizations which in turn are financed in part by European governments 1 Sfard and his law office provide legal counsel for Yesh Din 16 Sfard is legal counsel for Peace Now 9 17 Cases which Sfard has handled include 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 18 Sfard has litigated a case 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 19 Sfard represented Peace Now in a petition against settlement outposts Sfard litigated the case for the demolition of nine houses built illegally on Palestinian private land in the outpost known as Amona citation needed He also litigates the case in which Peace Now demands to evacuate an outpost called Migron 20 A case involving the International Solidarity Movement s Brian Avery who was wounded during the course of his activities in Jenin Avery was injured in the head by IDF soldiers Avery accepted a settlement for NIS 600 000 USD 150 000 from the state of Israel in exchange for dropping the lawsuit Shlomo Lecker was his Israeli lawyer and Sfard represented him as well citation needed Sfard and co counsel Carmel Pomerantz 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 Bedouins 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 50 000NIS 21 Reception EditThe New York Times described Sfard as the left s leading lawyer in Israel 1 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 22 In 2011 a settler from Kiryat Arba was indicted after calling for his assassination in an Internet posting 1 Israeli Knesset Member Danny Danon of the right wing Likud party accused Sfard of trying to bypass democracy through promoting ideas in the Israeli legal system because his ideas are not welcome in Israeli society 9 Gerald Steinberg president of NGO Monitor said that Sfard sees the courts as the way to force the changes that he perceives as necessary for Israel b ut he doesn t convince the Israeli public In any democratic process you can t use just the legal system to impose an ideology 1 Naftali Balanson Managing Editor of NGO Monitor said Sfard is at the center of the NGO industry that exploits the rhetoric of human rights in the context of the Arab Israeli conflict 9 Books EditDov 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 The Last Spy 2007 the biography of the Soviet spy Marcus Klingberg written by Klingberg with Sfard 23 Homa v mehdal English title The Wall of Folly 2008 about the West Bank barrier written by Reserves Brigadier General Shaul Arieli and Sfard 24 The Wall and the Gate Israel Palestine and the Legal Battle for Human Rights 2018 25 References Edit a b c d e f g h Jodi Rudoren 27 July 2012 A Champion for the Displaced in Israel The New York Times a b Michael Sfard Haaretz a b Dan Izenberg 18 September 2009 Young Israelis of the year Michael Sfard 37 A lawyer and a gentleman The Jerusalem Post Rudoren Jodi 27 Jul 2012 A Champion for the Displaced in Israel New York Times Frister Roman 1 September 2011 Polish Jewish Sociologist Compares West Bank Separation Fence to Warsaw Ghetto Walls Haaretz Lawyer Michael Sfard is effective voice for Palestinians Ynet Associated Press 23 December 2013 a b c d e f g h Interview with Michael Sfard Just Vision a b List of Attorneys PDF U S Consulate General Jerusalem July 2012 p 6 a b c d e f g h i j Nathan Jeffay 6 May 2012 Lone Lawyer Battles Illegal Settlements Forward Peretz Kidron 2004 Refusenik Israel s Soldiers of Conscience Zed Books p 83 ISBN 978 1842774519 Michael Sfard 14 September 2005 Either High Court or House of Lords Haaretz Michael Sfard 5 June 2008 Welcome to year 41 Haaretz Michael Sfard 29 April 2011 The legal tsunami is on its way Haaretz Michael Sfard 8 August 2011 In his father s name Haaretz Michael Sfard 12 June 2012 Occupation double speak Haaretz Michael Sfard 10 July 2012 Occupation no more Haaretz Michael Sfard 25 July 2012 Israel s crackdown on UN aid organization part of an assault on democracy Haaretz Michael Sfard 3 February 2010 Michael Sfard Laws of conflict do not allow for killing civilians in this way The Independent Archived from the original on 2022 05 14 Michael Sfard 19 May 2002 Why Israel s seruvniks say enough is enough The Observer Interview with Zygmunt Bauman Anna Sfard Yesh Din Website Peace Now s Lawyer on Israel s Illegal Outpost Policy peacenow org accessed 9 June 2017 Gaza Petition Text of Speech about Separation Barrier Case Government proposes relocating Migron outpost to Adam settlement Haaretz The Associated Press 4 November 2008 Court rejects 6 Beduin Negev land lawsuits jpost com accessed 9 June 2017 Settlements and the Occupation An Israeli Legal Perspective New America Foundation 15 July 2009 Yitzhak Laor 25 October 2007 Not afraid to go all the way Haaretz Shuki Sadeh 5 June 2008 Waste not wall not Haaretz The Wall and the Gate Israel Palestine and the Legal Battle for Human Rights 23 January 2018 External links EditBen Lynfield 17 May 2012 Interview Michael Sfard the Israeli lawyer battling illegal settlements The Christian Science Monitor Michael Sfard on Twitter Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Michael Sfard amp oldid 1121194174, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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