Photo of Israeli swimmers predates the Paris Games

An image of swimmers spelling out the words "bring them home" — a rallying cry for people seeking the return of hostages taken by Hamas — predates the Paris Olympics. 

But several recent Facebook posts connected the image to the Summer Games nevertheless. 

"The Israeli team was not allowed to wear the ‘Bring Them Home’ pins at the Olympic Games, so they decided to relay their message in a different way," the July 29 post said. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Photographer Adam Spiegel, who describes himself on Instagram as a fine art aerial photographer, created the image with another photographer, Michel Braunstein, and shared it Nov. 18 on Instagram, more than a month after Hamas’ attacked Israel Oct. 7 and took more than 200 hostages.. 

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared the photographers’ image a day later on Facebook. 

"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," the post said, crediting Spiegel and Braunstein. 

The Israeli artistic swimming team also shared the image on Instagram that day.

The caption, translated on Instagram from Hebrew to English, said:

"The Israel artistic swimming team was photographed this weekend at the National Pool at Wingate Institute for a special photo in honor of the repatriation of the hostages to Israel. Ten female athletes participated in the photographs taken from a drone and underwater. … The athletes demanded through the images to pass a message: ‘Like the whole country, we are also waiting and hoping that all the kidnapped will return home quickly. We decided to film this tribute in hopes of raising awareness of the crimes against humanity committed against Israelis and against citizens from many countries.’"

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The caption doesn’t mention the Olympics. 

It’s also clear that the image shows not one photo, but several; there are nearly 60 bodies in the image and the exact photo of some letters that appear more than once — such as the N in "bring" and "now" — are used multiple times. 

The Israeli Olympic Committee didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post. But a representative for the committee told Agence France-Presse that athletes were advised not to wear yellow ribbon-shaped pins to raise awareness about the hostages. The guidance was given "as part of the pre-ruling held a few months ago by the (International Olympic Committee), even though it is a first-rate humanitarian issue," a spokesperson for the group told Agence France-Presses.

Demonstrations and political propaganda, including clothing and accessories, are not allowed at Olympic sites, venues or other areas, according to the Olympic Charter. 

Spiegel, who also didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post, told Agence France-Presse that it was "a fake news story." 

We rate claims this photo shows Israel’s national swimming team protesting Olympic rules False.