US President Joe Biden congratulated new Prime Minister Yair Lapid in a tweet published the minute Lapid officially replaced Naftali Bennett as Israel’s premier at midnight between Thursday and Friday.

Biden also thanked Bennett for his “friendship over the past year.” The two never met before Biden became president but Bennett was hosted in the White House last August and the two met briefly on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in November. Their offices say they managed to build a close rapport over the past year.