Meiron Cheruti

Cheruti competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games, held in 2021.[2] Competing in the men's 50-meter freestyle, he finished fifth in his heat and 17th overall, a result that fell short of advancing to the semifinals.[6]

He returned to the Olympics at the 2024 Paris Games as one of 18 swimmers in Israel's delegation.[7] In the heats, Cheruti posted a time of 21.88 seconds, finishing 10th and earning a place in the semifinals.[3] He ultimately finished 13th in the semifinal and did not advance to the final.[4] Reflecting on the result, Cheruti described feeling a "small sense of disappointment" while also expressing satisfaction: "I'm happy I made it to the semifinal," he said, adding that he had withstood the immense pressure of racing at the Olympic level.[4] Following the Games, he looked ahead to future competition, stating that the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles were already on his horizon.[4]

In the days before the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cheruti received an email inviting him to his own purported funeral.[8] The message read: "You are welcome to attend the funeral of Meiron Amir Cheruti, born on October 19, 1997, died on July 27, 2024."[1] The threatening communication was part of a broader coordinated campaign targeting members of the Israeli Olympic delegation.[5][9]

The Israel National Cyber Directorate attributed the campaign to Iran.[5] Hackers impersonated the French far-right student organization Groupe Union Défense, sent threatening messages to athletes, and created online channels to publish personal information about members of the Israeli delegation.[1] The campaign also reportedly offered 40,000 euros for the murder or abduction of Israeli athletes or delegation members, alongside smaller payments for acts including vandalism, theft, protests outside the athletes' hotel, and verbal assaults.[9] Cheruti was identified as one of the athletes who received a funeral-invitation threat.[9]

A separate security assessment found that the threatening messages had been generated by bots rather than by an organized group directly threatening the delegation.[8] Despite the intimidation, Cheruti competed at the Games and reached the semifinal round.

Open reporting distinguished between details contained in the threat and independently established biographical facts. The date October 19, 1997, appeared in the threatening message, but the cited reports did not independently verify it as Cheruti's birth date.[1][8]

The reports also described different aspects of the episode: the Israel National Cyber Directorate attributed the intimidation campaign to Iran, while an earlier security check found that the messages were sent by bots rather than by an organized group directly threatening the delegation.[8][5] Bot-generated delivery does not by itself establish who directed the broader campaign, so the accounts should not be treated as mutually exclusive.