Israel’s fence along its border with Egypt. Photo: Idobi via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org — Israel became involved in the ongoing tension between the US and Mexico over the US administration’s proposed border wall, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted about his country’s successful security fence erected along its border with Egypt.

“President Trump is right,” Netanyahu tweeted Saturday night. “I built a wall along Israel’s southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea.”

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry released a statement expressing its “deepest dismay, rejection and disappointment” with Netanyahu’s tweet.

“Mexico is a friend of Israel and should be treated as such by its prime minister,” the ministry said.

Officials from Mexico’s Jewish community said they “forcefully rejected” Netanyahu’s comment.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray issued further comments on the matter Monday, calling on the Israeli government for a clarification of Netanyahu’s tweet. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that Netanyahu was referring to Israel’s “specific security experience” and that he was not weighing in on US-Mexico relations.

Netanyahu said his tweet was misinterpreted, and that critics “made mountains out of a molehill.”

“President Trump hailed the fence that was built under my guidance on our border with Egypt. He said that it almost entirely halted illegal infiltrations into Israel. And I said in response that he is right,” Netanyahu told members of his Likud party.