The Israeli military has fired off a ‘Mean Girls’-inspired insult at its Iranian enemies, the latest in a series of hit-or-miss social media misadventures. Israel’s GIF specialists seem to be a bit obsessed with Tehran.

“There’s no one meaner than the mean girls of the Middle East,” the Israel Defense Forces quipped from its Twitter account on Thursday, alongside a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and military commander General Qassem Soleimani, all three photoshopped into the Illinois high school portrayed in the movie ‘Mean Girls’.

There’s no one meaner than the mean girls of the Middle East...#DontSitWithThem#MeanGirlsDaypic.twitter.com/4WFSCU9yb5 — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 3, 2019

The tweet elicited a mix of laughs and groans. “I think we should discuss our MoD budget,” one Israeli sarcastically replied. “It’s funny because Netanyahu is SUCH a Gretchen,” another jeered.

Though October 3 is being celebrated online as #MeanGirlsDay – a reference to a line in the 2004 comedy – the Israeli government has a peculiar fondness for using the movie to mock Iran. After Ayatollah Khamenei called the Jewish state a “cancerous tumor” to be “eradicated” last June, the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC shot back with a spicy GIF, asking Khamenei “why are you so obsessed with me?”

Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. #Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen. 7/31/91#GreatReturnMarch — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 3, 2018

The obsession with gif-based warfare, however, seems entirely one sided. To be fair, the Israeli military often jumps on board other pop culture trends too, with these efforts sometimes backfiring spectacularly.

The IDF celebrated the 25th anniversary of the sitcom ‘Friends’ last month with a video featuring a group of its soldiers recreating the show’s iconic opening sequence, along with the title “IDFriends.”

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The tweet was panned on social media. “Love the one where Chandler fires white phosphorus into a hospital,” responded one user. “The one where Joey snipes a child,” another tweeted. Even supporters of the IDF rolled their eyes, telling the force to stop clowning around and “be soldiers.”

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