President-elect Donald Trump named Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) as his next national security adviser, adding another Israel and Iran hawk, who generally takes traditional conservative views on foreign policy to his national security team.

Waltz has been deeply involved with foreign policy and national security issues on the Hill and before his time in elected office: he’s a Green Beret, former policy official at the Pentagon, ex-CEO of a defense contracting company, subcommittee chair on the House Armed Services Committee and member of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees. And he’s been a stalwart supporter of Israel.

Last month, when Israel retaliated against Iran for its ballistic missile attack, Waltz suggested that Israel should have struck Kharg Island, a key locus for Iran’s oil exports, and its nuclear facilities at Natanz and questioned whether the Biden administration had pressured Israel “once again to do less than it should.”

He told Jewish Insider in September that the U.S. should be putting pressure on Hamas and its Iranian backers, and accused the Biden administration of applying “one-sided pressure on Israel to make a [cease-fire] deal” with Hamas in Gaza. Waltz also expressed skepticism of the U.S.-proposed cease-fire plan between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Even before the war in Gaza, Waltz told JI in May 2023 that the U.S. should make clear it wouldn’t stop Israel from striking Iran’s nuclear program and that the U.S. should show Iran  “through a variety of means that our military capabilities are such that we could indeed severely damage their program.”

Waltz told JI in Oct. 2023 that the U.S. needed to project stronger deterrence against Iran and lay out clear consequences for attacks on U.S. and Israeli personnel through its proxies, as well as restrict its access to funds. He highlighted the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani as an example of effective deterrence.

Waltz has been a longtime leader of bipartisan efforts to press the administration to re-designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. Earlier this year he also joined a letter threatening to pursue penalties against Qatar if it did not secure the release of U.S. hostages from Hamas.

He told JI in September that Qatar needs to “do more to crack down on Hamas operations that occur there.”

The Florida congressman additionally joined efforts demanding that the administration respond to Iranian efforts to promote anti-Israel protests in the United States and take a harder line toward the Iraqi government given its support for Iranian-backed militia groups.

In 2022, Waltz said he opposed any efforts to negotiate with Iran at that time, and led legislation in the House that would have codified the Trump administration’s maximum pressure sanctions — without any option for an administrative waiver — and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ designation as a terrorist group.

He was also an original sponsor of the MAHSA Act, imposing sanctions on the Iranian leadership in response to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the regime’s crackdown on protesters.

Previously, in 2021, he led an effort to outline a bipartisan path with support from 140 lawmakers on Iran, which called for addressing the full scope of Iran’s malign activities — nuclear, ballistic missiles, terrorism and human rights violations — through sanctions and diplomacy.

Speaking to JI in mid-2023, Waltz was broadly supportive of the terms that Saudi Arabia had set for a normalization deal with Israel, including security assurances and assistance for Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program. Earlier this year, he urged the administration to promptly nominate an ambassador for the Abraham Accords.

Notably, Waltz also led a bipartisan push to defend the position of the U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, when the Biden administration aimed to downgrade the officer in that role. The first Trump administration defunded the security coordination mission.

Waltz has also been a proponent of expanded collaborative programs between the U.S. and Israel. 

He’s been trying for several years to pass legislation establishing a joint research grant program on post-traumatic stress disorders, led legislation to create a U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence grant research center and marshaled support for cooperative missile defense programs.

Waltz was also a lead sponsor of an effort to censure the members of the progressive Squad, accusing them of inciting antisemitic attacks in the U.S. and supporting terrorism.

He’s generally been a proponent of robust defense spending, arguing to JI in January 2021 that the U.S. can’t make budget cuts that would impact the U.S.’s ability to “deter and compete with China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and global terrorism” or negatively impact U.S. armed forces.

Michael Makovsky, the president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America called Waltz “an excellent appointment.”

“He’s very smart and serious, strongly pro-Israel, hawkish on Iran and China, with a reportedly close relationship with President-elect Trump,” Makovsky said. “He’ll help Trump restore U.S. deterrence, which has been badly weakened, pressure the Tehran regime, and back Israel advancing both Israeli and U.S. security interests.”

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, called Waltz “an excellent choice, having been a strong proponent of maximum pressure on #Iran and a co-sponsor of the #MAHSAAct.”

UANI Chair Jeb Bush called him “a patriot” and “a great choice.”

Despite his generally traditional foreign policy views, Waltz has leaned toward the more restrictionist wing of the party on Ukraine aid. He said in a September 2023 op-ed that he believed that if Ukraine were to fall, Russia would next seek to attack NATO countries and spark World War III.

But he accused the Biden administration of failing to outline an achievable goal or strategy for Ukraine. He said that further U.S. aid should be “contingent on European burden sharing and equal European assistance going forward.”

Waltz said recently that the U.S. should push for talks between Ukraine and Russia, but provide more weapons, with fewer restrictions, to Ukraine if Russia refuses to negotiate.

Trump’s decision to pick Waltz and Stefanik for his administration team is set to leave House Republicans — assuming they maintain control of the House, which is not yet guaranteed — with an even more narrow margin than initially expected. Their seats could remain open for months, potentially further hamstringing business in Congress.

Jeff Bartos, a Jewish Republican who ran for the Senate in Pennsylvania, told JI that Waltz is an “outstanding selection.”

“We campaigned together for President Trump in Pennsylvania the weekend before the election. At every stop, Mike took the time to speak with every voter and paid special attention to the many veterans in the crowd. Mike is a combat veteran, the first Green Beret to serve in Congress and a brilliant strategist,” Bartos said. “He is a stalwart supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship and his record of combating Antisemitism is second to none.”