The photo was snapped during Netanyahu’s visit to the Gaza Division in southern Israel.
However, video from the event shows that while Netanyahu initially raised the binoculars to his eyes without removing the lens covers, he immediately realized the lenses were covered, and removed the covers.
A similar incident famously occurred when Labor’s Amir Peretz, then Defense Minister, was caught on video as he peered through covered binoculars during a military exercise in 2007. Peretz, however, did not remove the covers, and held the covered binoculars to his eyes several times. The incident was used to mock his lack of military experience.
Netanyahu reacted to Yediot Aharonot‘s photo by writing on Facebook: “I want to help Yediot Aharonot calm down. I have some experience with binoculars.” To this, he attached a famous photograph of him as a young soldier with binoculars hanging from his neck.
Source material can be found at this site.