A young Israeli woman who survived Hamas captivity has alleged that she was drugged and raped in her own home by a well-known personal trainer and social media influencer.
Mia Shem, 23, who was abducted by terrorists from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, bravely spoke out in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, where she detailed her harrowing ordeal.
The French-Israeli national, who became the face of Hamas’s brutal hostage-taking when she appeared in a chilling ‘proof of life’ video with a bandaged arm, says the attack happened after she returned home from Gaza.
‘This was my biggest fear in life. Before captivity, during captivity and it happened after the captivity, at my home, in the place meant to be safest for me,’ she told the broadcaster.
Shem said the incident took place last month and that she has since been left traumatised and struggling to cope.
‘I came to tell the story as it is, which is that I was abused. I went through an incident last month that caused me to lock myself inside my house, to get into extreme mental states, and at the end of the day – I’m the one that was hurt,’ she said.
The man accused of the horrific attack is a personal trainer in his 30s who has not been named.
According to local reports, he is a fitness influencer with several celebrity clients – including a former prime minister.
Mia Shem, 23, who was abducted by terrorists from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, bravely spoke out in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, where she detailed her harrowing ordeal
Keren Shelf, the mother of Israeli-French citizen Mia Shem, holds up a picture of her daughter during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, 17 October 2023
The French-Israeli national, who became the face of Hamas’ s brutal hostage-taking when she appeared in a chilling ‘proof of life’ video with a bandaged arm, says the attack happened after she returned home from Gaza
Police arrested him in March in connection with the case, but he has since been released due to a lack of evidence. However, the investigation is ongoing.
Mia had visited the man’s gym in Tel Aviv, just minutes from her home, for three training sessions before the alleged assault.
While the trainer has denied raping her, Israeli media reports claim he admitted to entering her dressing room several times while she was changing.
In her powerful testimony, Shem said she had been approached by the man with promises of Hollywood connections – claiming he could help her tell her story on the big screen.
‘I’m writing a book, and because of what I went through there are a lot of people who want to take my story and make something of it, so it sounded completely normal,’ she said.
But when the man turned up alone – without the producer he had promised to bring – things took a terrifying turn.
‘Since he walked in, I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything,’ she said. ‘My body remembers. My body felt it. My body knows I went through something.’
She described experiencing terrifying flashbacks and physical symptoms that made her realise she had been drugged and assaulted.
In her powerful testimony, Shem said she had been approached by the man with promises of Hollywood connections – claiming he could help her tell her story on the big screen
Mia Shem (C) with her mother and brother upon arrival at the Hatzerim air base following her release by the Palestinian Hamas group on November 30, 2023
Mia Shem (L) with her mother and brother. Mia was just 21 when she was kidnapped from the Nova festival, where more than 300 people were slaughtered in a dawn massacre near the Gaza border
Since her release, she has kept a low profile and was last seen in public at Sir Elton John’s Oscar party
‘Even in captivity, when I was hurt, I got through that,’ she said. ‘The last thing I needed was an incident like this. I need a moment of peace to process my life for a second – I haven’t started processing my captivity yet.’
Her devastated mother, Keren Shem, said she had never seen her daughter in such a state.
‘When we met after the incident, she couldn’t stop crying. She was bent over and crying uncontrollably.
‘I’ve been in difficult situations with her, I know my daughter, but here she was in some kind of complete breakdown. My daughter came back from captivity in a terrible physical and mental state, but not like she is now.’
Mia was just 21 when she was kidnapped from the Nova festival, where more than 300 people were slaughtered in a dawn massacre near the Gaza border.
She was freed in a hostage deal in November 2023, and later revealed she had been inappropriately touched by a Hamas militant – but he stopped when she screamed.
Since her release, she has kept a low profile and was last seen in public at Sir Elton John’s Oscar party.
