Mia Shem, a 21-year-old Israeli-French tattoo artist freed by Hamas, attended Elton John’s Oscar party on Sunday night.
Shem, still wearing a cast after being shot in the arm in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, was photographed at the 32nd annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party.
She wore an elegant white gown adorned with yellow rhinestone pins to raise awareness for Israelis still held captive in Gaza. According to Times of Israel.
The young woman arrived in the United States last week, along with at least 17 relatives of the hostages, to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address.
Shem, who was a guest of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), underwent surgery after being kidnapped during the Nova Festival massacre.
During her captivity, she was featured in a Hamas propaganda video in which she praised her captors for treating her injured arm.
Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation
She lived in constant fear of being raped and killed by her captors in Gaza until she was released during a ceasefire in November.
In a recent interview on Israeli television, she revealed why she was not raped.
“My wife was outside the room with the children,” Shem said of the arrestee. “That was the only reason he didn’t rape me.”
But she added that she was starving, taunted by the terrorist’s family and worried that she might be killed at any moment.
“[I was] “You’re locked in a dark room and you’re not allowed to speak, see, be heard, or hide,” Shem told IChannel 13. “Terrorists are looking at you 24/7 and raping you with their eyes.
“I have a fear of being raped, a fear of dying,” she continued, breaking into tears at times as she recounted her ordeal.
“His wife didn’t like me and him being in the same room. Women often want to hug each other to open up a little bit,” she said.
Shem was one of more than 200 Israelis kidnapped in the terrorist raid, which killed more than 1,200 people.
She was thrown into a pickup truck and taken to Gaza, where her injured arm was placed in a makeshift splint before being taken to a Palestinian home where she was kept until November.
