Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei issued a threatening tweet toward Israel on Tuesday, and Israeli officials trolled him. Hard.
The Ayatollah, seemingly without direct provocation, said that West Asia would be better off if Israel were to be "eradicated," however such vitriolic language coming out of Iran about Israel is nothing new.
"Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken," Khamenei wrote. "#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"
In response to Iran's wishes of total and utter destruction of the Israeli state, the Israeli Embassy decided to employ a new diplomatic tactic—trolling Iran with a Mean Girls gif. In the gif, protagonist (or is she the antagonist?) Regina George, played by Rachel McAdams, is seen saying, "why are you so obsessed with me?" to her friend, Gretchen Weiners.
The gif seems an appropriate and measured response to the clockwork-like jabs at Israel that Iran has been dishing out for decades.
Twitter, however, had mixed reactions to Israel's response. Some people found the exchange to be hilarious.
But others expressed concern, stemming from the apparent breakdown in international dialogue, in this case, two sovereign nations which have been on the cusp on armed conflict, resorting to petty memes and gifs as a way to conduct diplomacy.
And then there were those who just can't anymore, with anything, because WTF is our world in 2018.
What a time to be alive.
