Michael Sfard is a leading Israeli human rights lawyer and the author of The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights. A recipient of the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award and an Open Society Fellowship, he completed his law degree at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his master's in international law of human rights at University College of London.

He serves as the legal adviser to the Israeli organizations Breaking the Silence, Yesh Din, Peace Now and the Human Rights Defenders Fund, and he regularly represents Palestinian communities and Israeli and Palestinian activists in Israeli courts. His writing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on human rights law has appeared in The New York Times, Haaretz, The Independent and Foreign Policy, among other publications.