This month marked the first anniversary of the passing of Howard Grief, who used his brilliant legal mind to defend his beloved State of Israel.
On June 2, 2014 (25 Sivan 5774 on the Hebrew calendar) it was one year since Howard Grief, a staunch supporter of Israel, passed away in Jerusalem. In 2008 Grief published a seminal work, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law. His life`s work, the book is a treatise on Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel.
Grief was born and raised in Montreal, where he graduated from Baron Byng High School and McGill University Law School. While practicing civil and commercial law in Montreal for 23 years, he became a fervent Zionist. He was a member of the Canadian Zionist Federation (CZF) as representative of Tehiya, a branch of the nationalist Israeli political party, Herut.
In 1989 he made aliyah (immigration to Israel) with his Israeli bride Ilana and their two sons.
In Israel, Grief was legal adviser to then Minister of Science Yuval Ne`eman regarding international law and, in particular, on matters pertaining to the Land of Israel. During this period Grief filed several petitions with the Israeli Supreme Court on constitutional and criminal grounds against the re-partitioning of Israel to fulfill agreements with the PLO. These actions led to a search for truth and the investigation of the San Remo Conference (1920), which included Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
Howard Grief Coined Term ‘San Remo Resolution’
The San Remo Resolution, a term first formulated by Howard Grief, subsequently laid the legal foundation for the State of Israel under international law.
The San Remo Resolution encapsulated the Balfour Declaration (1917), which identified a Homeland for the Jewish People that included lands on both the west and east sides of the Jordan River.
Grief`s tireless dedication and devotion for legal analysis has been praised as a cardinal contribution to Israeli constitutional law. Blessed be his memory, a man who devoted his life for the right of the Jewish People to their homeland.
Author: Tikvah Nissenbaum, Montreal
(Sister of Howard Grief)
Click below to watch video of a dedicated Howard Grief defending Israeli sovereignty in 2013, when he was already ill yet determined to deliver his message.