Britain’s Conservative MP Rishi Sunak walks next to his campaign headquarters in London, Britain, October 24, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Britain’s newest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has voiced strongly pro-Israel positions during his political career and is widely expected to continue the Conservative party’s staunch support of the country, earning him plaudits Monday from a number of Jewish organizations in Britain.

Sunak will be formally appointed Prime Minister by King Charles on Tuesday following the resignation of current PM Liz Truss after weeks of internal dissension within her party.

“We congratulate Rishi Sunak and wish him well as he assumes this new mantle of leadership,” The Board of Deputies of British Jews, a prominent UK Jewish organization, said Monday. “The Board of Deputies looks forward to meeting the Prime Minister at the earliest opportunity to discuss key issues relating to our community.”

During the previous leadership contest this summer to replace former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sunak said that he was proud to be a friend of Israel, that he opposed the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement, that he supported a UK-Israel free trade agreement, and he declared that Iran must not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.

In August, he called Jerusalem “indisputably the historic capital” of Israel.

Conservative Friends of Israel, a group promoting UK-Israel ties and affiliated with the Conservative Party, also welcomed the news calling Sunak “a staunch friend of Israel and the UK’s Jewish community.”

Despite the economic turmoil that prompted Truss’ resignation last week and brought Sunak to power, Sunak has pledged to continue the UK’s support to Ukraine. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. Addressing the people of Ukraine in a letter to the Kyiv Post in August, Sunak said, “Whatever the changes here in our country, we Brits will always remain your strongest ally.”

In assuming the premiership, Sunak will become the first practicing Hindu and first person of South Asian descent to lead a British government. He will be the second ethnic minority to do so after Benjamin Disraeli, who was baptized a Christian but was born to Jewish parents, held the office in the 19th century.