US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman celebrated the opening of Israel’s first medical school in Judea/Samaria on Sunday after many years of legal hurdles and international pressure reports TOI.

“A new medical school has opened in Samaria. It’s worth saying that again: A new medical school has opened in Samaria! How many people ever thought those words would be spoken?” Friedman said at a ceremony marking the beginning of the school year for the institution’s inaugural class of future doctors at the Ariel University in Samaria

“The lives of people everywhere, in this region, whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian — they have now been improved and will continue to be improved in so many profound ways,” Friedman noted. He then continued saying: “The United States Embassy enjoys warm relations with Ariel University, and we are inspired by its contributions to Israeli society and to the scientific world.”

Back in April, Israel’s Higher Education Council approved the establishment of Ariel University’s medical school in the panel’s third round of voting.

The decision came shortly after the council overturned a previous decision to open the school due to funding issues. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit called for an additional vote after he discovered that one of the council members had a conflict of interest in the matter.

The five other medical schools in the Jewish state fall short of supplying Israel’s increasing demand for doctors claim many of Ariel University’s proponents. This often compels medical school atendees to study abroad in Eastern Europe.