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| - Fact Check: Israeli swimmers DIDN'T call for release of hostages through human formation
A photo of swimmers spelling out the slogan "BRING THEM HOME NOW" with their bodies has been widely shared as the 2024 Paris Olympics began. India Today Fact Check found that it's from November 2023.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral picture is not from the Paris Olympics but from November 2023. The photo also has been digitally augmented, as evidenced by the same formations being repeated.
A photo of swimmers spelling out the slogan “BRING THEM HOME NOW” with their bodies has been widely shared as the 2024 Paris Olympics began. Allegedly, the photograph showed Israeli swimmers at the Olympics demanding the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
A Facebook user, while sharing the viral picture, wrote, “THE ISRAELI Olympic team was not allowed to wear their yellow ‘Bring them home now’ pins at the Olympics. SO the Israeli swimmers decided to show it this way for the whole world to seeâæ” Its archive can be seen here.
The Free Press Journal, a news outlet, has also shared the photo with the same claim in a video report.
India Today Fact Check found that the viral picture is not from the Paris Olympics. It’s also digitally augmented.
OUR PROBE
A reverse image search led us to a post from November 19, 2023 by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs which contained the viral picture. The post said: “A beautiful tribute by Israel’s national artistic swimming team in tribute to the 240 hostages being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. We will not stop until each and every one of them are brought home.”
We also found a post by Aviva Klompas, a former speechwriter for Israel’s Mission at the United Nations. Klomaps shared the same photo on X on November 20, 2023, and attributed it to photographer Adam Spiegel.
It is, thus, clear that the viral picture is not from the ongoing Paris Olympics. We also found an article in the Israeli news portal Ynet. The article mentioned that this photo featured Israel's artistic swimming team at the national pool at the Wingate Institute. The photograph featured athletes Eden Belcher, Shelly Bobritsky, Ariel Nashi, Nicole Nakhshonov, Kati Kunin, Maya Dorf, Neta Robichak, Shani Shraizin, Noi Gazela, and Aya Mazor. This article also cited Adam Spiegel as the photographer.
We found Spiegel on Instagram, where his bio mentioned he is a fine art aerial photographer. His profile contained many similar aerial photos, and several of them featured swimmers. We also found that he shared the viral photo on November 19, 2023, with the caption: “Home, now.”
We could not find any credible news report suggesting a ban on wearing “Bring Them Home” pins in the Paris Olympics, a slogan used to call for the return of the hostages abducted by Hamas following the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
DISCREPANCIES WITH VIRAL PHOTO
Looking closely at the viral image, we observed that the formations for the letters E, O, H, M, and N were repeated. We also observed that in the exclamation formation, the swimmers appeared to have been shrunk down. This suggests that the image was edited. A comparison can be seen below.
It is thus clear that the picture is both old and edited.
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