Cruz says administration's Golan Heights policy is 'tremendous'

"What the President did this week was tremendous. He recognized that the Golan Heights is legitimately now a part of Israel. That's something I've been pushing for, for over a year," Cruz told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."

"I think it is good foreign policy for Israel, and it's good foreign policy for the United States," the Texas senator said, adding that he has previously introduced legislation in the past several months that recognizes Israel's control over the region.

"A number of Democrats in the House have spoken out in favor of that legislation. There's bipartisan agreement to do this," he said.

The announcement last week from the President came in the form of a tweet in which he said the Golan Heights "is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability."

The new position reversed longstanding US policy regarding the region and handed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a significant foreign policy victory less than three weeks before Israelis head to the polls to decide whether he should remain in power.

Cruz told Bash that he hopes "Congress will take up the legislation I introduced and put the President's determination into US law."

"That is in the security interest of Israel and, critically, it's in the security interest the United States. The President did the right thing here," Cruz said.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

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