Colin Shindler is emeritus professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He became the first professor of Israel Studies in the UK in 2008 and was the founding chairman of the European Association of Israeli Studies (EAIS) in 2009.
He is the author of ten books including his History Of Modern Israel (Cambridge University Press 2008, 2013).
The History of Modern Israel has been translated into Italian, Polish and Estonian.
His main interests lie in the evolution of the Israeli Right, the changes in the approach of the British and European Left towards Israel since 1948 and the emigration movement of Soviet Jews between 1917 and 1991.
Israel and the European Left: Between Solidarity and Delegitimisation (Continuum/Bloomsbury 2012) was one of the first books to examine the history of the relationship between the British Left and Israel.
He edited a collection of essays by numerous Israel Studies scholars, Israel and the World Powers: Diplomatic Alliances and International Relations beyond the Middle East (I. B. Tauris 2014)
The author of several previous books which had focused on the political odysseys of Vladimir Jabotinsky, Menahem Begin and Avraham Stern, The Rise of the Israeli Right: From Odessa to Hebron (Cambridge University Press) was awarded the gold medal as the best book for 2016 in The Washington Institute’s for Near East Policy’s Book Prize competition.
His most recent book, The Hebrew Republic: Israel’s Return to History was published by Rowman and Littlefield in the summer of 2017. This episodic history of Israel features articles written over half a century but interlinked with contemporary pieces to contextualise past events.
He lectures and broadcasts nationally and internationally. He writes and reviews for the Jewish Chronicle, Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, History Today, Times Literary Supplement and other journals. The author of over 650 articles and reviews since 1969 on Israel and Jewish political history - all of which can be located on this website.
He is currently honorary president of the EAIS.