The appointment of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel has received enthusiastic support from Israeli settler communities and supporters of the country’s territorial claims in the West Bank.

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has previously expressed his belief that God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel, is a strong supporter of Israel’s expansion into the occupied West Bank, which he calls Judea and Samaria. He also has a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After the appointment, Yishai Fleisher, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron, expressed his excitement, calling Huckabee a “great friend of Israel.”

“We are very excited about Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee is an amazing person, both spiritually and politically,” Fleisher said. Newsweek. “He is a great friend to Israel. He really understands the issues, has a heart for the people of this region, and we are very happy to have him.”

Fleisher also pointed to Huckabee’s support for the controversial “Pompeo Doctrine,” a policy initiated by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recognized Jewish settlement rights in the West Bank.

Huckabee, the father of former White House press secretary Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is a staunch defender of Israel. His proposed appointment comes as newly elected President Donald Trump has pledged to align US foreign policy more closely with Israel’s interests as the country wages wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Mike has been a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years,” Trump said in a statement. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him in the same way. Mike will work tirelessly to bring peace to the Middle East!”

Huckabee has led paid tour group visits to Israel for years, regularly advertising the trips on conservative news media. According to Axios, he wanted to be appointed ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term, but Trump decided to appoint his former lawyer, David Friedman.

The new ambassador was also a visible supporter of settler communities in the West Bank, famously saying that “there is no such thing as an occupation.”

“I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN in 2017, using Biblical terms for the West Bank. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. They are Judea and Samaria. There is no such thing as a settlement. They are communities, they are neighborhoods, they are cities. something like a profession.”

Huckabee’s appointment, along with the recent appointment of Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations, are the latest signals of support for Netanyahu’s hardline government, which is already the most pro-settler in Israel’s history. Some in Israel now hope that Trump’s second administration will be the most pro-settler ever in the US