A German courtroom drama over the kidnapping of two children has taken a new turn, with allegations that former Mossad chief Danny Yatom was involved in a plot to abduct them from Denmark and deliver them to their mother in Germany.
The accusation surfaced Monday in Bild, Germany’s largest tabloid, when Stefan Hänsel, the children’s father and ex-husband of German steakhouse heiress Christina Block, testified that Yatom played a role in the 2024 abduction. The name of former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri had already been tied to the case in earlier reports.
Block, heiress to the Block House steakhouse chain, is on trial in Hamburg. Prosecutors allege she conspired to kidnap two of her children from Hänsel on New Year’s Eve 2024, with the assistance of a network stretching into Israel’s security and intelligence community.
According to prosecutors, August Hanning, who once headed Germany’s domestic intelligence service, allegedly approached Peri, now owner of the Israeli consulting firm CGI Group, to organize a team of Israeli operatives for the abduction. The team allegedly assaulted Hänsel, kidnapped the children, smuggled them into Germany, and handed them over to Block. A Danish court later ordered her to return the children to their father.
Hänsel testified that Hanning also recruited Yatom, who led the Mossad in the late 1990s. Yatom, speaking in a television interview several weeks ago, acknowledged knowing Hanning from the era when Helmut Kohl was Germany’s chancellor but denied any connection to the case. “I have no connection to this case. It’s simply a waste of time,” he said.
The suspicions linking Peri and Yatom to the affair reportedly originated with Werner Mauss, a former German intelligence officer and private investigator.
Peri’s company denied any involvement and announced plans to file a defamation lawsuit. “We have no connection to the kidnapping, to Christina Block, or to any of the other parties involved,” said CGI Group CEO Tzvika Neveh. “In the coming days, we will file a libel suit in Germany against Werner Mauss and NTV for their false accusations against CGI Group.”
German prosecutors said investigators raided five offices connected to Hanning’s company on Sept. 16 in several German cities and in Switzerland. The Hamburg prosecutor’s office said evidence suggests Hanning and his company may have conspired with Block as early as 2022 to kidnap the children from Denmark.
According to the allegations, a group of masked men planned to ambush the children on their way to school on Nov. 9, 2022, force them into vehicles, and deliver them to their mother. Hanning’s company and his business partner, identified as Thorsten M., were allegedly promised €100,000 by Block for carrying out the plan.
That attempt failed after a neighbor spotted six hooded men near Hänsel’s home and alerted him. Hänsel notified local police, and the kidnapping was prevented.
Prosecutors now believe that after the failed 2022 attempt, Hanning turned to Peri, and the abduction was carried out successfully a little over a year later.