Netanyahu lauded the success of Israel’s fence, but Mexico demanded an apology for the tweet.
Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump’s proposed wall between the US and Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out.
Israeli president Reuven Rivlin’s office said he spoke to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the phone and called the tweet “a misunderstanding” after Pena Nieto said the the remark hurt Israel-Mexico ties on Tuesday.
“I am sorry for any hurt caused as a result of this misunderstanding, but we must remember that we are talking about a misunderstanding, and I am sure that we can put the issue behind us,” Rivlin
Netanyahu had tweeted on Saturday that Israel’s barrier, a fence with electronic sensors, along its border with Egypt had stopped the influx of African migrants. He tweeted: “President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel’s southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea.”
He ignored Mexico’s initial demand for an outright apology and echoed previous Israeli explanations, but these were rejected as insufficient by Mexico’s foreign minister on Monday, Reuters reported.
“I did point out the remarkable success of Israel’s security fence. But I did not comment about US-Mexico relations. We’ve had, and will continue to have, good relations with Mexico,” Netanyahu said in English at a cybersecurity conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Last Wednesday, the US wall became official policy, with Trump signing an executive order ordering its immediate construction along the US-Mexico border, as well as the detention and expedited deportation of undocumented migrants.
The order calls for the wall to be paid for by existing federal funds and even includes developing “long-term funding requirements” in future federal budgets.
After the executive order was signed, the administration suggested that the wall be financed by a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports or taxing Mexican drug cartels.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s approval rating stands at an historic low of 12 percent, but Mexico has welcomed on Monday a senior US official’s suggestion that drug cartels could pay for the border wall, although the idea raised eyebrows in local media.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation: “It can either be through a tax on goods coming across the border. It be through tax reform and a formula on import and export taxes and credits. It could be on drug cartels. And it could be on people that are coming here illegally and paying fines. Or it could be all of the above.”
