Ma'ariv daily published a picture Wednesday showing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in an embarrassing light, then gloated over the fact that Hizbullah's website carried the photo and used it to mock the IDF.

The photograph showed Ashkenazi at a military exercise, looking through capped binoculars. Two other photos showed Ashkenazi immediately afterwards, taking the caps off and looking through the uncapped binoculars. In February of this year, a similar picture caused then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz international embarrassment, but in that case, reporters said that he continued to look through the capped binoculars for a long time and did not correct his mistake.

After publishing the pictures, Ma'ariv's website, NRG, ran a news piece gloating over the fact that Hizbullah is using the Ma'ariv picture to mock the IDF. NRG proudly reported that the website of Hizbullah's TV station, Al Manar, ran the picture with a caption that said: "This is Gabi Ashkenazi, the new Chief of Staff, who has been 'marketed' in Israel as the man who will rescue Israel from the defeat of Tammuz (a reference to July of 2006 - ed.), and who is also militarily experienced." Al Manar mocks Ashkenazi for making the same mistake as the inexperienced Peretz.