Oxford University has appointed its first professor of Israel studies: Derek Penslar (right) professor of Jewish history at Toronto University.
The chair, only the second to be created in the subject in the UK, was made possible through a £3 million endowment from the Stanley and Zea Lewis Foundation.
Stanley Lewis, who died in 2009, was a long-standing supporter of Israel best known for building up the travel firm Peltours.
Professor Penslar, who will start next year, said: "I am honoured and delighted to be the inaugural holder of the Lewis professorship. Oxford is the ideal place for the study of modern Israel in all its aspects, and as the meeting point of Jewish, Middle Eastern and European civilisations."
