Rush Limbaugh gives an introductory speech before U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. December 21, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined those recognizing Rush Limbaugh, the titan of US conservative talk radio who died Wednesday of complications from lung cancer.

“I send my heartfelt condolences to the family of Rush Limbaugh,” wrote Netanyahu on Twitter. “He was a great friend of Israel and he stood by us through thick and thin, always firm, never wavering. We shall miss him dearly.”

I send my heartfelt condolences to the family of Rush Limbaugh. He was a great friend of Israel and he stood by us through thick and thin, always firm, never wavering. We shall miss him dearly.

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 18, 2021

Born in southeast Missouri, the 70-year-old had hosted “The Rush Limbaugh Show” since 1988, becoming the most widely listened-to radio talk program in the US and a forerunner of the modern right-wing media landscape.

Though much of his programming focused on domestic politics, he was a vocal advocate of the US-Israel alliance and staked out hawkish positions on American policy in the Middle East, from early support for the Iraq War to praise for President Donald Trump’s 2020 strike on Iranian general Qassem Solemani. In 2020, Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom.