Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to apologize for his tweet in support of US President Donald Trump’s planned wall on the Mexican border, despite being urged to do so by Interior Minister Arye Dery during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
According to Haaretz, the argument between Netanyahu and Dery broke out in the context of a discussion about Dery’s ministry’s own efforts at preventing “illegal immigration.”
Dery told the premier that he had received worried messages from leaders of Mexico’s Jewish community, adding: “What you did created a mess, both with the Mexican government and with the Jewish community there. Jews in Mexico even violated Shabbat to draft petitions against you.”
Trump supporting, Mexican-hating prime minister of apartheid Israel refuses to apologize for backing Mexico wall https://t.co/GJLOfEHKI3
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 29, 2017
While Netanyahu refused to apologize for his tweet in support of Trump’s proposed wall, he suggested that Dery himself issue a clarifying statement, which the minister then did.
His tweets, however, “fell far short of assuaging the great anger both in Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s office and in the Mexican Jewish community”, reported Haaretz. “Senior Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said the crisis is still ongoing.”
On Saturday night, the Mexican Foreign Ministry published an official statement expressing “dismay and disappointment” over Netanyahu’s tweet. Leaders of Mexico’s Jewish community also issued a statement condemning Netanyahu’s tweet.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
