During the 1936 riots, Jacob Meir made an "Appeal for Friendliness" calling on the Muslims of Jerusalem to halt any hatred and animosity towards Jews.
Gabay was one of a group of promising assistants to Prof Justice Zeev Tzeltner, one of the founders of the Tel Aviv University faculty of Law.
In 1961 Gabay won a Fulbright scholarship and subsequently received a master's degree in Comparative Law from Columbia University, New York.
Gabay worked from 1962 to 1969 in the United Nations Secretariat on legal aspects of international economic relations and intellectual property issues.
Following his retirement from the Israeli civil service in 1994, he joined the law firm of Abraham Neeman & Co.,[9] where he mostly dealt with international commercial issues.
Gabay was designated as a potential panelist for dispute resolution under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
For many years prior to his death in 2010, Gabay served as President of United Nations Association of Israel, co-chairperson of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI),[11] Chairman of the Council of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, a member of the Consultative Commission on Arbitration and Conciliation in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Israeli delegate in the ICC International Court of Arbitration.
Parallel to his career, Gabay was a senior lecturer on Intellectual Property and International Trade Law at the Universities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
For several years he served as chairman of the board of trustees of Mishgav Yerushalayim, The Center for Research and Study of Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage.
He strongly believed in democracy, human rights, and Zionism, and the positive role of the Jewish nation and the state of Israel in the Middle East and the world.