Suspect Arrested After Young Woman Was Filmed Naked in Dressing Room at Tel Aviv Mall

A week after Shire Weiss of Tel Aviv revealed on social media that she had been filmed naked inside a dressing room at a Bershka store in the TLV Mall in the city, police arrested the suspect in the filming on Wednesday evening, after the court issued an arrest warrant against him. The suspect is a 25-year-old Tel Aviv resident. 1 viewing of the gallery Arrest footage of the suspect (Photo: Israel Police spokesperson)

Police said the suspect was taken for questioning at the police station and, at the end of the investigation, was detained. He is expected to be brought before the court tomorrow, where police will ask to extend his detention. His photo was published yesterday by police, which requested help in locating him.

In a post she published on social media last week, Weiss described the moments of terror she experienced. According to her, the incident occurred at 7:28 p.m., while she was trying on clothes in a shared dressing room for women and men in the store. "I arrived at the mall alone, a fairly routine outing. I went into the store, chose items and waited in line for the fitting rooms," she wrote. According to her, one of the customers standing ahead of her in line had already caught her attention at the beginning of the encounter. "The man in front of me smiled at me a strange smile, but I was not alarmed. I kept doing my thing," she said.

Later, while she was trying on clothes, she heard him ask to move to another fitting room, claiming that the lighting in the one he was in was not good enough. "He asked for the fitting room next to mine," she explained. The moment she realized she was being recorded, she said, came while she was trying on clothes. "As I raise my gaze upward, I notice an iPhone cruelly recording me, apparently for several long seconds, naked, getting dressed, trying on clothes, doing something so private and so trivial in a fitting room," she described. "I was very frightened and started screaming. I got dressed quickly in order to leave the booth and confront him."

Weiss said the suspect denied the act. "Of course he was very frightened and said I was lying and making it up and claimed that he did not film me," she said. She added, "As of this moment, there are naked photos of me on a strange man's phone."

In the post, Weiss expressed frustration and concern that this was not a one-time act. "That man is a serial harasser and I am sure I am not the first woman he has filmed naked in a dressing room. That man, on the face of it, looks normal, which is what makes this story so frightening," she said, and added, "Women are not protected in this country. Harassers and perverts are everywhere."

According to Weiss, when she asked to receive the store's security camera footage, she was told it could only be obtained through a police order after filing a complaint. "I plan to turn to Israel Police and hope to receive full cooperation from them. I pray they will treat this complaint with the utmost seriousness so that maybe this time we will feel that women are not fair game," she shared.

Following the incident, the Lev Tel Aviv Station in the Yarkon District opened an investigation on suspicion of an invasion of privacy offense. Weiss ended the post with a call to the public to share her story. "I want that person to know that I am looking for him and I will do everything to catch that zero," she wrote. "I do not want to be afraid to try on clothes in a mall. I want that harasser to be afraid to leave the house."