The new president of the Oxford Union, the student debating chamber which has launched many a political career, speaks fluent Hebrew.
Maria Rioumine 20, who grew up in Herzliya and taught cheder at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue St John’s Wood, is an undergraduate reading philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church College.
Later this month the union will be hosting a debate whose subject is, she said, “close to my heart”.
Its title is “This house believes Israel is a force for good in the Middle East” and JC editor Stephen Pollard will be one of its proposers.
