In an unexpected move, President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel in the incoming administration.

Huckabee ran against Trump in 2016 but after dropping out, began supporting the president-elect. After serving as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, he began his own Fox News talk show called “Huckabee.”

At 69, Huckabee is still a relative newcomer to foreign policy. 

A devout evangelical, Huckabee is a notable departure from the recent tradition of the American ambassador to Israel being Jewish. Huckabee has tied his evangelical faith to his staunch support for Israel, and makes frequent trips to the Jewish state.

Huckabee has long supported Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. In 2018, Huckabee traveled to the West Bank to lay the first brick for a new Israeli settlement. He is also a stalwart opponent of the two-state solution, which he derided as “unrealistic and unworkable.”

Huckabee’s appointment comes as the war in the Middle East continues to intensify after over a year year of grinding war.

During the campaign, Trump promised to bring peace to the region, but has also called on Israel to “finish the job” and destroy Hamas. Questions remain about how he will accomplish this.

Huckabee, like Trump’s other appointments so far, has maintained unwavering loyalty to the president-elect over the past few years. Trump’s incoming cabinet will likely differ from that of his first term, which was marred by widespread dissent from establishment Republicans, followed by scores of firings.