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==Life and work==
Michael Sfard was born in 1972 in the Rehov Brazil public housing complex in [[Kiryat Hayovel]], [[Jerusalem]],.<ref name=jp20090918>{{cite news|title=Young Israelis of the year: Michael Sfard, 37: A lawyer and a gentleman|url=http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Article.aspx?id=155432|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=18 September 2009|author=Dan Izenberg}}</ref>the grandchild of Holocaust survivors. His parents had been expelled from Poland for their activist work on behalf of democratic ideals.<ref>Robert Herbst,[http://mondoweiss.net/2017/03/unfortunately-decent-michael/ 'Unfortunately there are many more decent than brave people,’] [[Mondoweiss]] 12 March 2017</ref> When he was five, his family moved to an apartment building in [[Ma'alot Dafna]] that was home to many journalists.<ref name=jp20090918/><ref name=jv/> Sfard completed a law degree ([[LLB]]) at [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]].<ref name=LoA>{{cite web|title=List of Attorneys|url=http://photos.state.gov/libraries/jerusalem/328666/acs/attorney-list-2012.pdf|publisher=U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem|page=6|date=July 2012}}</ref> He was a reservist for the [[Israeli Defense Forces]] (IDF) in the [[Gaza Strip]] while at law school.<ref name=forward0512/> He served in the [[Nahal Brigade]] of the IDF, mostly in Lebanon, as a military paramedic.<ref name=nyt20120727/><ref name=jv>{{cite web|title=Interview with Michael Sfard|url=http://www.justvision.org/portrait/99695/interview|publisher=[[Just Vision]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name=forward0512/> 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 because of his refusal to serve as escort for Israeli settlers in [[Hebron]].<ref name=nyt20120727/><ref name=forward0512/><ref name=Kidron2004>{{cite book|title=Refusenik!: Israel's Soldiers of Conscience|year=2004|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1842774519|author=Peretz Kidron|page=83}}</ref> He was released from the army in 1994 and attended a course on Jewish-Arab encounters at [[Neve Shalom]].<ref name=jv/> He started his legal apprenticeship with [[Avigdor Feldman]] in 1998 and worked with him for several years as an attorney.<ref name=jv/>
In 2000, Sfard and his wife moved to London so that he could pursue a master's degree, but he says it was also in order "to get away" from Israel.<ref name=jv/><ref name=forward0512/> 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".<ref name=jv/><ref name=forward0512/> He completed his [[Master of Laws]] at [[University College London]].<ref name=LoA/> 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.<ref name=jv/> In early 2004, Sfard opened his own office in [[Tel Aviv]].<ref name=forward0512/>
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