The Olympic Committee of Israel (OCI) has condemned Iran’s “delegitimization campaign” against Israeli athletes, after a video shared widely on social media depicted an Israeli athlete with blood on his hands.

The video was originally shared last week, by Ofogh TV, an Iranian state television channel. The “ugly propaganda piece,” as the OCI described it, shows an Israeli athlete, with a menorah tattooed on his neck, shaking hands with other competitors, and leaving blood on their hands. He is then confronted by the other athletes, who wipe the blood onto his jacket, and the video zooms into an Israeli flag covered in blood.

The OCI condemned the video, alongside Iran’s actions throughout the Paris Olympics. “Not only that the Iranians are sending death threats to our athletes and putting their well-being in danger, they are now openly in a delegitimization campaign against them,” a spokesperson told the JC. “The blood depicted in the video is on Iran’s and their accomplices' hands”.

Yael Arad, president of the Israeli National Olympic Committee, reported just last week that team members had received death threats meant to generate “psychological terror” in athletes. Paris prosecutors are investigating the death threats, alongside “discriminatory gestures” levelled at Israeli athletes during an Israel-Paraguay football match.

Speaking at a memorial last Tuesday for the victims of the 1972 terror attack at the Munich Olympics, Tom Reuveny, Israeli gold-medalist in windsurfing, said politics “should be put aside” during the Games.

This year’s Olympics has seen an elite French anti-terrorist unit deployed to create a “ring of steel” around the Israeli delegation, and Israel’s own security budget doubled. Despite the threats, the Israeli team took home a record seven medals in this year’s games, including a gold in Windsurfing.

The IOC said the Iranian video could incite even more threats of violence against Israeli athletes.