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U.S.-Mexico Border Wall: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Tweets Support For President Trump’s Plan

By Brad Faber
Published on: 04:23 PST, Jan 29, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently tweeted in support of President Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that President Trump is correct on the matter and also pointed to the success of one of Israel’s border fences.

The specific wall that Prime Minister Netanyahu is referring to was completed in 2013. It is a “steel fence” that was constructed across the length of Israel’s border with Egypt, as Reuters describes.

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

After he first declared his candidacy in June of 2015, President Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration became one of the major themes of his campaign. As a candidate, President Trump repeatedly promised to build a wall along the southern border, and he also pledged that Mexico would be footing the bill for it.

This week, President Trump again showed that he is serious about keeping his promise of building a wall. On Wednesday, President Trump signed two executive orders to kick off the process of beefing up border security. According to ABC News, President Trump’s recently-signed executive orders call to “lay the groundwork” for the construction of the border wall and grow the amount of border patrol enforcement officers.

Mexico has continued to claim that it will not provide the funds for the wall, however. On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a meeting with President Trump that was scheduled to take place later in the month. According to CNN, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently claimed that the border wall would be a $12 to $15 billion project.

President Trump also spoke of his plans to build the wall in a recent interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News. President Trump also used Israel as an example of why he thinks the border wall would work as an effective tool in combating illegal immigration.

“Look, the wall is necessary,” President Trump told Sean Hannity. “That’s not just politics. And yet it is good for the heart of the nation in a certain way because people want protection — and a wall protects. All you have to do is ask Israel.”

According to the Washington Post, there was a bit of ambiguity regarding whether President Trump was referring to Israel’s fence along its border with Egypt, or one of its other barriers.

“In addition to border fences facing Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, Israel also has an internal security fence — with remote-controlled machine guns — along the periphery of the Gaza Strip, as well as separation barriers in the West Bank to keep Palestinians, and Palestinian terrorists, out of Israel.”

According to Reuters, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s praise for President Trump’s plan to build a border wall also drew a response from the Mexican Government. As Reuters describes, in a statement, the Mexican Foreign Ministry described how it has informed the Israeli Government of its “deepest dismay” and “disappointment” regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu’s tweet.

Israeli Foreign Minister Emmanuel Nahshon later sent out a tweet on the matter, clarifying the comments made in the earlier tweet sent by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, a member and leader of the conservative Likud Party, congratulated President Trump after his victory last November and thanked him for his unwavering support of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu called President Trump “a great friend of Israel” and also said that he looked forward to working with him.

According to Fortune, the U.S. border with Mexico already has about 700 miles of fencing. A border wall that would cover the entire length of the border would be roughly 2,000 miles.

In addition to taking action on the border wall, President Trump has also signed an executive order to temporally halt immigration from seven different countries, as CNN describes.

[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

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