Social media posts have circulated videos and photos claiming to show Israeli Olympians displaying solidarity messages with hostages held in Gaza. Two posts in particular—featuring gymnasts and artistic swimmers—falsely claim to be displays from athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
A viral Facebook post claims that, because Israeli athletes were reportedly barred from displaying a yellow ribbon pin in the Olympics, the Israeli Olympic artistic swimming team (the sport was formerly known as synchronized swimming) spelled out a solidarity message for hostages held in Gaza—“Bring Them Home Now!”—in the swimming pool.
This claim is false. The picture featuring the Israeli artistic swimmers was not taken from the 2024 Paris Olympics, but from a sports facility in Israel from November 2023:
Another video widely circulated online claims to feature an Israeli gymnastics team integrating a similar “Bring Them Home Now!” message into its performance. The video has been shared by users including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and the consulate general of Israel to the U.S. Pacific Northwest, claiming that the performance was from the 2024 Summer Olympics.
While Friedman claimed the performance was by the “Israeli Artistic Gymnastics” team and the X account of the consulate general claimed it was the “Israeli Rhythmic Gymnastics team,” it was neither. The Israel Gymnastics Federation told the Dispatch Fact Check that the video was actually footage of a local Israeli acrobatics gymnastics club from Mazkeret Batya, Israel. Furthermore, acrobatics and group gymnastics are not performed at the Olympics, they added.
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