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Netanyahu retract his remarks about US-Mexico wall

February 1, 2017 at 11:58 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has retracted his remarks praising the US-Mexico wall which have caused outrage in Mexico, agencies reported on Tuesday. In an offensive post on Twitter, Netanyahu said, “I have built a wall in the south of Israel and it stopped immigrants. It is a great idea. It is a great success.”

Several senior Mexican officials criticised his words and called for him to clarify his meaning and apologise.

“I want to take the opportunity to explain or clarify what I did and did not say in my tweet the other night,” Netanyahu said at a cybersecurity conference in Tel Aviv. “I did point out the remarkable success of Israel’s security fence, but I did not comment about US-Mexico relations.”

With regards to Israel’s relations with Mexico, Netanyahu added: “Our ties are much stronger than any passing disagreement or misunderstanding.”

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said that this explanation was not good enough. He called for the Israeli government to clarify matters in a “correct” way and “apologise.”

“I would ask Prime Minister Netanyahu how many walls has President Trump said he wants to build?” noted Videgaray. “It is obvious he was referring to the relationship with Mexico, and we should be serious and assume responsibility for what we say… I think an apology would be appropriate in this case.”

Nevertheless, he described Israel as a “close friend” and added, “It is absolutely incomprehensible that its prime minister should express himself in this way, which frankly we consider an aggression.”

Meanwhile, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin apologised to his Mexican counterpart in a telephone call. “I am sorry for any hurt caused as a result of this misunderstanding,” he told Enrique Peña Nieto, “but we must remember that we are talking about a misunderstanding, and I am sure that we can put the issue behind us.”