HAMAS CAPTIVE, 23, ‘RAPED BY PERSONAL TRAINER INFLUENCER IN HER OWN HOME’

Tue 06 May 2025:

A former Israeli captive has admitted that she felt more safe and protected in Gaza than in Israel, the Hebrew Maariv newspaper reported yesterday.

Mia Schem, 23, was released as part of a prisoner swap deal in November 2023.

Earlier this month, Schem identified herself as the plaintiff in a previously reported rape case against a famouse personal trainer in Tel Aviv, who is a prominent figure on social media and has several celebrity clients, including a former prime minister.

According to the paper, Schem alleged that the rape took place in her home, using a date rape drug, and that she does not remember many of the details.

Israeli media outlets reported that the suspect in Schem’s case had lied in a polygraph test, yet he was released from custody due to lack of evidence. They also accused Schem of lying in search of limelight.

“This was my biggest fear my whole life, before captivity, during captivity. And it happened to me after captivity, in my safest place,” she said, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

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Schem said she met the personal trainer, known for his celebrity clientele, at a Purim party. After attending three training sessions with him, she claimed he offered to connect her with a Hollywood producer interested in making a film about her ordeal in Gaza. When the first meeting fell through, she agreed to host a second meeting at her home.

However, Schem alleged that the trainer arrived late and persuaded her friend to leave, saying the meeting was sensitive. She said she remembers little of what happened afterwards, but believes she was drugged. “My body remembers; it feels everything… but I don’t know what happened,” she said, adding that it took her days to process the physical and emotional trauma.

The man, who has not been named, is believed to be a successful personal trainer in his 30s.

A court placed a complete gag order on the investigation including the identities of the parties involved.

He was arrested in March, Channel 12 reports, but was since released, with police citing a lack of evidence.

The suspect has reportedly worked wiyth a number of celebrity clients as well as a former prime minister.

He has denied all allegations of sexual assault, but has admitted to entering her room while she was changing.

Her mother, Keren, described her daughter’s condition in the days after the alleged assault as worse than when she returned from captivity. “Now I was seeing a kind of distress that really scared me,” she said.

“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,” Schem’s mother added.

Following the interview, Schem shared a message on social media: “It’s not easy to stand in front of a camera and reveal the truth. But there comes a time when you realise your silence doesn’t protect you, it protects others.”

According to official reports, while thousands of sexual harassment and assault cases are reported each year, almost nine out of ten rape cases are closed without charges.

A report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centres, Israel Police opened 6,405 investigations into rape cases in 2023, however, 81 per cent of them were closed without an indictment while charges were filed in only 16 per cent of cases. Two per cent of the remaining cases ended in a conditional settlement.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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