‘Terror for dummies’? IDF gets #FallingStarChallenge all wrong… and even steals RT joke!

The viral fad involves taking a picture of yourself after an apparent fall, with various items meant to represent your character dropping around you. It started among a group of young, wealthy egocentric Russians, then made an ironic comeback in China – where the idea took on a more wholesome and self-reflective tone.

Now the IDF has gotten in on the act with a falling photo of their own… or have they?

“BREAKING: Undisclosed intelligence agency found this picture of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s commander @ghasemsoleimane taking the #fallingstarschallenge,” the IDF’s official Twitter account posted on Friday, accompanied by a rather crudely photoshopped image of Iranian Major General Ghasem Soleimany, the leader of the elite Quds Force, on the floor of some sort of nuclear site. The Israeli MS Paint Michelangelo who made the graphic imagined the general surrounded by Hezbollah posters, a Syrian flag, an AK-47 and a “Terrorism for Dummies” book, among other “common” Iranian trinkets. A “to-do” list also reveals the Iranian officer’s busy schedule: “1. Destroy Israel 2. America.”

Aside from apparently violating the meme rule, one can’t help but notice the IDF drew inspiration from RT’s #FallingStarChallenge submission, which includes a “Brainwash for Dummies” book as well as a tongue-in-cheek “to-do” list.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the IDF’s masterpiece, however.

“I honestly think posting memes from this account is ill-considered. People rely on you being serious. For a moment I was sure some really crazy stuff is going on. Next time something real happens I’ll have to stop and think if it’s not a joke,” one Twitter user responded, along with a sad-face emoji. 

“Embarrassing,” another netizen wrote.

This is far from the first time that the IDF has dabbled in meme manufacturing. In May, the Israel military’s Twitter account posted an image that repurposed an old anti-Semitic trope, depicting Ayatollah Khamenei as a sneaky puppet master who controls the world (or at least Syria).

Concerns that the IDF’s Twitter account has been hijacked may not be entirely unwarranted. The IDF recently tweeted out an appeal to PETA – to help protect Israeli tortoises from Hamas.

READ MORE: 200+ Palestinians killed since March… and IDF alerts PETA about plight of tortoise (VIDEO)

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