Michael Saul Comay (; October 17, 1908 – November 6, 1987) was an Israeli diplomat. He was the Israeli Ambassador to Canada from 1953 to 1957,

Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations The permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations is the de facto Israel ambassador to the United Nations, with the rank and status of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. The permanent mission of Israel to the United Nations ...

from 1960 to 1967, and was Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1973.

Early life

Comay was born on 1908 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa. He studied general sciences and law at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, and was qualified to practice law at a higher level. From 1931, he worked as a lawyer and began to work with the South African Jewish community. During World War II, Comey served in the infantry of the

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

and fought in the

North African campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

, and attained the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. After the end of the war, Comay gave up his work as a lawyer in Cape Town and emigrated to the

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

with his family, and worked for the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

Diplomatic career

Initially, he worked as a representative of the South African Zionist Federation under the auspices of the Jewish Agency. Subsequently, he became more active in the political department of the Jewish Agency and in 1947, he was sent to the United Nations to advocate for support for the establishment of the Jewish state. After the

establishment of the state of Israel The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

in 1948, Comey joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as the director of

the Commonwealth ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

division within the ministry. In 1952, he was appointed deputy director-general of the foreign ministry and a year later, he served as Israel's Consul General in Canada. In 1954, prior to becoming an ambassador to Canada, he sought the acquisition of 24

Canadair Sabre The Canadair Sabre is a Jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft built by Canadair under licence from North American Aviation. A variant of the North American F-86 Sabre, it was produced until 1958 and used primarily by the Royal Canadian Air Force ...

s for the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

but failed due to the outbreak of the

1956 Suez War The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. After serving as ambassador to Canada till 1957, Comey served as Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1967. From 1970 to 1973, he served as Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Comay retired from foreign service in 1979.

Personal life

Comay and his wife had two sons and one daughter. One of his sons, Yohanan, was killed in action during the 1973 Yom Kippur War while serving as a soldier in the

Artillery Corps Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. Following his retirement from foreign service, Comay and his wife were leaders of the Israeli Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 1981, he published his book ''Zionism, Israel and the Palestinian Arabs: Questions and Answers''. He died in 1987 at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comay, Michael 1908 births 1987 deaths Ambassadors of Israel to Canada Ambassadors of Israel to the United Kingdom Permanent representatives of Israel to the United Nations People from Cape Town South African emigrants to Israel South African military personnel of World War II Jewish military personnel Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Burials at Har HaMenuchot University of Cape Town alumni 20th-century Israeli lawyers 20th-century South African lawyers Israeli animal rights activists 20th-century South African Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews 20th-century diplomats