Mexico Admonishes «Israel» over Netanyahu Wall Tweet

Local Editor

The Mexican government and on Saturday night spoke out against Prime Minister Netanyahu's tweet in support of a wall along the US-Mexican border.

Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray issued his first tweet since December to post his ministry's statement on the matter.

"The Foreign Ministry expressed to the government of Israel, via its ambassador in Mexico, its profound astonishment, rejection and disappointment over Prime Minister Netanyahu's message on Twitter about the construction of a border wall," the statement said.

"Mexico is a friend of ‘Israel' and should be treated as such by its Prime Minister," the ministry said.
It added that it respects and admires the Jewish people and the Mexican Jewish community which had contributed to Mexico.

Mexican academic and commentator Leo Zuckermann issued a tweet to President Reuven RIvlin in which he stated, "I ask you, as a Mexican, to correct the position of PM @netanyahu about a wall in our border."

The apartheid "Israeli" entity's sudden dispute with Mexico began after Netanyahu tweeted this statement: "President Trump is right. I built a wall along ‘Israel's' southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea."

Netanyahu was referring to a steel fence the entity had built along its border with Egypt, mainly to keep out migrants fleeing conflicts in Africa, including Somalis, Sudanese and Eritreans.

The entity had also built a steel-and-concrete barrier along its border with the occupied West Bank, which it said is to prevent militants crossing into the "Israeli" entity. Palestinians see the barrier, which had drawn international condemnation, as a land grab.

The "Israeli" entity's so-called Interior Minister Arye Dery demanded on Sunday that Netanyahu apologize for supporting American plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, but Netanyahu refused.

Their argument took place during a meeting of the heads of all coalition parties which followed the weekly cabinet meeting, according to a source who was present at the coalition leaders' meeting, but asked to remain anonymous.

Mexican Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon later issued a tweet in which he tried to walk back Netanyahu's statement.

"[Netanyahu] referred to our specific security experience which we are willing to share. We do not express a position on US-Mexico relations," he tweeted.

Mexico's government and Trump had been locked in a bitter dispute over his election campaign promise to build a wall on the US southern border that he says Mexico will foot the bill for. Mexico had repeatedly said it will not pay for the wall.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a visit to meet Trump next week after the American advised him to forgo the trip if he was not willing to pay for the wall.

In a call on Friday morning, the leaders pledged to work out their differences, and the Mexican government said the two had agreed not to discuss the issue of payment for now.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team