michael sfard

Subhiyeh Abu Rahmeh cries near the memorial monument for her son, Bassem, who in a 2009 protest was shot and killed with a high-velocity tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier, Bil'in, West Bank, October 4, 2013. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

No justice for Bil’in Palestinian activist shot dead by Israeli soldier

Nearly a decade after an Israeli soldier killed Bassem Abu Rahmeh while he was nonviolently protesting in Bil’in, Israel’s High Court decides once and for all that his killer will never see the inside of a courtroom. More than nine years after an Israeli soldier killed Palestinian activist Bassem Abu Rahmeh at a protest in…

By Henriette Chacar September 18, 2018

Israeli soldiers detaining Avner Gvaryahu, director of Breaking the Silence, on a tour of the South Hebron Hills, August 31, 2018. (Nasser Nawaja, B'Tselem)

IDF detains South Hebron Hills tour organizers, days after settler attack there

Israeli soldiers detained senior members of Breaking the Silence and a human rights attorney in an attempt to block a tour of the South Hebron Hills, where settlers attacked six left-wing activists last week. By Orly Noy Breaking the Silence planned a tour in the South Hebron Hills on Friday, as a token of solidarity with the…

By Orly Noy August 31, 2018

Felicia Langer exits the High Court in Jerusalem, after the hearing of the appeal against Bassem Shaka's expulsion. November 22, 1979. (Herman Hanina)

In memory of Felicia Langer, the first lawyer to bring the occupation to court

Felicia Langer was a Holocaust survivor, a communist, and one of the first Israeli lawyers to defend Palestinian residents of the occupied territories in the Israeli Supreme Court. She died in Germany last week. By Michael Sfard Israeli human rights lawyer Felicia Langer died Thursday in Germany. Langer was a human rights and peace activist,…

By +972 Magazine June 24, 2018

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Border police officer stands in front of Palestinian as they wait to cross from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, West Bank, into Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday Prayer in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, July 26, 2013. Photo by: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org

‘The law is what keeps the edifice of occupation from crashing down’

Michael Sfard has spent the past two decades fighting the occupation in Israeli courts. His new book dissects the moral dilemmas of engaging with the occupation’s legal system, its role in making the status quo sustainable, and why, despite it all, he remains optimistic that Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians will end. By Yossi Gurvitz “The…

By +972 Magazine June 22, 2018

Construction workers clear land for new caravans in the settlement of Ofra, West Bank, January 29, 2017. (Yaniv Nadav/Flash90)

The Israeli gov’t is arguing that annexation is good for Palestinians

In a High Court case over a law to legalize Israeli settlements built on stolen, privately owned Palestinian land, the attorney hired to represent the government (because the attorney general refused to do so) argues that Palestinians, and not just settlers, would actually benefit. Israel’s High Court of Justice heard arguments on Sunday against the…

By Orly Noy June 6, 2018

Israeli snipers seen on the border with Gaza during the Great March of Return, March 30, 2018. (IDF Spokesperson)

Top court hears first major challenge to IDF’s live fire in Gaza

Human rights groups argue the army’s open-fire regulations violate international law. The government claims the use of deadly force is justified — even against unarmed demonstrators. Israel’s High Court of Justice heard on Monday a major challenge to the IDF’s rules of engagement, which permit the use of live fire against demonstrators who pose no danger…

By Joshua Leifer April 30, 2018

Palestinian protesters demonstrate and burn tires near the border with Israel in the Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 13, 2018. (Sliman Khader/Flash90)

Rights groups: Gaza protests aren’t combat, IDF must stop shooting protesters

Israeli human rights organizations demand High Court order the state to revoke the rules of engagement that permit shooting unarmed demonstrators. After three weeks in which Israeli army snipers have killed dozens and wounded well over 1,200 protesters inside the Gaza Strip, four prominent human rights organizations petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice on Sunday, demanding that the court order the…

By Edo Konrad April 15, 2018

A public reading of Breaking the Silence testimonies in Tel Aviv to mark 10 years since the organization was founded, June 6, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Facing down Breaking the Silence, Israel tries to play the underdog

The state prosecutor stages a refined production in which it pretends to be the weaker party facing down a massive organization. The state wants Breaking the Silence to reveal the identity of a soldier it suspects of committing crimes during the Gaza war. By Alma Biblash An Israeli Magistrate’s Court this week heard a challenge…

By +972 Magazine May 24, 2016

Palestinian anti-occupation activist Nasser Nawajah is accompanied by Israeli attorney Gabi Lasky (right) as he enters the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, January 20, 2016. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

It’s open season on anyone opposing the occupation

There is a campaign being carried out against anyone actively opposing the occupation in Israel, and it doesn’t matter if you’re an activist in the field, a human rights attorney or a former soldier talking about what you were ordered to do. “Activists from the shady organization, “Ta’ayush,” who we tracked from within and outside,…

By Noam Sheizaf January 23, 2016

Im Tirzu activist fitting himself into a student protest in TAU for the release of Hana Shalabi (Oren Ziv / Activestills)

Supreme Court: ‘Fascist’ Im Tirzu case had no standing

Supreme Court rules that the right-wing ‘Im Tirzu’ movement had no basis to sue a group of Facebook activists who labeled it ‘fascist.’ By Oren Persico “It pains me to say so, but this suit contradicts this court’s fundamentals regarding the scope of freedom of speech, whereas we are speaking of the heart of the…

By The Seventh Eye July 16, 2015

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz at the Defense Ministry. (photo: Haim Zach / GPO)

How Bibi is turning the defense budget into a settler slush fund

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ya’alon will transfer NIS 70 million from the defense budget to compensate the Ulpana Hill lawbreakers. How will the common soldier interpret the command’s will? By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz Israel’s Channel 10 exposed earlier this week another layer in the unending saga of Ulpana Hill: Prime…

By +972 Magazine January 9, 2015

Family members of Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, a Palestinian who drove his car into passengers at a rail station causing the death of two Israelis last month in Jerusalem, inspect his destroyed apartment in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, November, 19, 2014. The previous night, Israeli army and police destroyed the apartment of Al-Shaludi, as the Israeli government ordered the demolition of homes of Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis. (photo: Activestills.org)

Rights groups to Israel’s top court: Home demolitions are collective punishment

Within the legal community, Israel’s High Court and the state attorneys are isolated and alone in thinking that home demolitions are an acceptable practice, the petitioners argue. No date is set for a decision in the case. Demolishing the homes of suspected — or convicted — Palestinian terrorists amounts to collective punishment that in some…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man December 3, 2014

Destruction in Beit Hanoun following bombardment by Israeli forces, North Gaza Strip, August 11, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)

Not even a ‘bump on the wing’ these days when killing Palestinians

No one in Israel really talks about the killing of innocent Palestinians anymore. There was a time when we murdered people and it actually bothered us. On Tuesday, the IDF attempted to kill Mohammed Deif, the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, by dropping five one-tonne bombs on a home. As these lines are written…

By Ami Kaufman August 21, 2014