Michael Sfard

[1][2] Michael Sfard was born in 1972 in the Rehov Brazil public housing complex in Kiryat HaYovel, Jerusalem.

[4] His parents had been expelled from Poland for their involvement in the University of Warsaw student uprisings against the Communist Government in 1968.

[1][8] 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.

[8][10] 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".

[9] 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.

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

"[10] 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.