Ex-Shin Bet chief tied to German heiress child abduction

A former head of the Shin Bet reportedly recruited ex-Mossad agents for an international custody-related child abduction spanning Denmark and Germany.

By World Israel News Staff

A former head of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency has reportedly been implicated in the international kidnapping of a German millionaire heiress’s children from their father in 2023.

Yaakov Peri, who served as chief of the Shin Bet from 1988 to 1994 and later as a Knesset member from 2013 to 2018, allegedly recruited a team of former Mossad agents to carry out the operation.

According to German media reports, Peri was hired by Christina Block, daughter of the founder of a wildly popular German steakhouse chain. Block was locked in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Marcus Hentsel.

Under the pretense of a temporary visit, the couple’s two children traveled to Hentsel’s home in Denmark — the only EU country that does not recognize custody rulings from other European family courts.

Hentsel reportedly refused to return the children to Block in Germany after the agreed-upon date, despite a German court order requiring him to do so.

On December 31, 2023, a group of unknown men allegedly broke into Hentsel’s property, assaulted him, and abducted the children, then aged 10 and 14.

The children were taken to a farmhouse in southern Germany before being returned to their mother two days later.

However, German authorities later removed the children from Block’s custody and returned them to their father in Denmark.

One Israeli, identified in German media as Tal S., is facing criminal charges for alleged involvement in the kidnapping.

Prosecutors accuse Block of hiring an Israeli black ops firm to forcibly reclaim her children.

In court, prosecutors claimed that CGI, an Israeli business intelligence firm affiliated with Peri, received approximately €7 million from Block shortly before the abduction.

A spokesperson for CGI denied any involvement, insisting the company had no connection to the case. “We have nothing to do with this story. I have no idea how CGI’s name became involved,” CGI CEO Zvika Nave told Der Spiegel.

Peri’s wife has declined to comment on the allegations, claiming that her husband is currently hospitalized.