Cardiff-born Ben, the Society's president, was at the forefront of the battle against anti-Israel sentiment in November when jazz musician and self-proclaimed 'ex-Israeli' Gilad Atzmon spoke to students at the southern university.

Atzmon told the Friends of Palestine Society that "Hitler was right" and claimed that "antisemitism doesn't exist".

Ben described that moment as a "wake up call" to the moderate political activists at Exeter.

"The Student Union realised it had made a mistake," he explained. "Since the talk we've worked really closely with them to improve and change their policy and we're going to try to pass a 'no platform' motion to prevent speakers like him coming onto campus again."

On the night itself, representatives from the SU were present at the talk, as was Ben.

He said: "We had a big argument with them and nothing happened.

"We had a peaceful protest. It was the most stressful two weeks of my life.

"Atzmon came out and spoke to the protesters, he actually confronted us. He's an intimidating bloke at more than six feet tall.

"All of his supporters were hanging on his every word. He was acting like a playground bully.

"It was worse than we expected. I thought it would be subtle, but it was overt antisemitism."

While Exeter has been one of the hotbeds of anti-Israel agitation in the last decade, Ben was keen to emphasise the 'fun' that the non-political side of the Society provides.

The son of Corrine and Steven Salamon, he was involved with JLGB back home in Cardiff and also taught in the cheder at the Reform Synagogue.

He explained: "I always knew that wherever I went I was going to join the J-Soc.

"With Exeter I looked at the course, the lovely location and the beautiful campus.

"The lifestyle is very relaxed down here and my student life is very happy."

Ben follows in the footsteps of Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips, both notable alumni of the Devon university.

A fine educational institution it certainly is, but not quite a centre of Yiddishe life.

"In freshers' week I went to the J-Soc barbecue and it was a bit of a shock to see how few people were there," the 21-year-old recalled.

"But it was nice and I liked the atmosphere. I immediately knew I wanted to get more involved."

As a 'keen member' Ben attended the elections just three weeks into his university career and realised there was nobody standing for the vice-president position.

With a little encouragement, he put his name forward and was elected.

He admitted that the political activity occasionally detracted from the "fun events and that put a lot of people off".

To rectify that, he placed an emphasis on the communal Friday night meals and cultural nights.

A particular highlight was the seder he helped to organise in his first year.

The history student stood again the following year and went on to organise an Israeli film festival.

The local Jewish community in Exeter is small, but has welcomed the student population with open arms.

The city is home to the third oldest synagogue in the UK, which Ben described as "stunning".

"We have a really nice relationship with the community," he explained.

"Mostly it's Friday night meals when we see them. We had a lot of them at the synagogue and we would invite members of the community to the meal.

"They organise an event for Holocaust Memorial Day as well and we always get involved with that."

While this year J-Soc's activities have been dominated by the Atzmon episode, things are "getting back on track" with Shabbat meals and cultural events such as a Jewish film festival and a comedy night on the horizon.

"We're taking things step-by-step here," Ben explained.

Details: exeterjsoc@hotmail.com