A dramatic new development has emerged in the case of Christina Block, heiress to Germany’s Block House steakhouse empire, who is accused by German prosecutors of orchestrating the kidnapping of her two children from their father. German media, including Bild, report that former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri, 81, is allegedly involved and is said to have assembled the Israeli team that carried out the abduction.
The trial, which began in Hamburg in mid-July, has revealed that an Israeli company, Cyber Cúpula Operations, including three former Mossad operatives, planned and executed the abduction of the children from their father Stephan Hensel in Denmark on New Year’s Eve 2023–2024. Hensel refused to return the children to Block, claiming their stay with her would be unsafe.
According to reports, the kidnapping team included at least eight people, most of them Israeli. One Israeli operative, Tal S., who was arrested in Cyprus in September 2024 and has been in pretrial detention in Germany since November, testified last week that he participated not for financial gain but to do a favor for the children, Clara, 13, and Theodor, 10.
Block and her partner, sports journalist Gerhard Delling, who is also on trial for assisting her, allegedly began planning to retrieve the children in 2021. They claimed the father was manipulating the children to alienate them from their mother. Early attempts to paint Hensel and his lawyer as pedophiles failed. By spring 2023, prosecutors say, Block and Delling turned to the Israeli firm for help.
Bild reports that Peri, who previously served as Shin Bet chief, minister of science and technology, and Knesset member for Yesh Atid, is involved in the case. The case had already drawn extensive coverage in Germany, but Peri’s alleged role adds a new twist.
On January 17, 2025, German investigator and private detective Werner Maus, 85, emailed the deputy head of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, reporting that August Hanning, a friend of the Block family and former head of Germany’s federal intelligence service, approached Peri to assemble a team to work for Block.
Three days later, Maus sent another letter stating that Peri, president of CGI, a business intelligence and strategic consulting firm, told the court he would testify about Hanning’s involvement if confidentiality was guaranteed. During testimony, Block was asked whether she was aware of Peri’s name or of 7 million euros allegedly transferred to CGI. She remained silent.
Hanning denied any involvement and said he never contacted Peri or knew of any payment. Attempts to reach Peri were unsuccessful. His wife told reporters he was in a clinic. CGI CEO Zvika Nave told Der Spiegel, “We have nothing to do with this story. I have no idea how CGI’s name became involved.” Germany’s federal intelligence office declined to comment, saying this does not indicate whether the report’s facts are correct.
Peri has previously been linked to intelligence operations in Germany. In 2019, after a 114-million-euro diamond heist from the Green Vault in Dresden by a Berlin crime family, his company was hired by the museum to review security arrangements. Peri confirmed CGI’s involvement but requested anonymity and declined to comment on clients. German media reported that CGI obtained materials that helped the investigation.