Ex-Mossad agents, Israeli firm and heiress: The kidnapping shocking Europe

A German heiress’s family fortune, high-society weddings, lavish divorces and a bitter custody battle have combined into a saga resembling a Hollywood action thriller.

The story involves hundreds of millions of euros in wealth, amassed on the backs of millions of cattle grilled by a German steakhouse chain, Germany’s intelligence chief, divers, escape boats, courts in two countries overturning each other’s rulings, a global Israeli security firm, several former Mossad operatives and live blogs from Europe’s most-read newspaper. At the center is a millionaire heiress accusing her mother of orchestrating the affair while at least two children have become pawns in a bitter struggle driven by every one of the seven deadly sins.

Christina Block

(Photo: Marcus Brandt/AFP)

Christina Block, 52, owns 8% of Block Beteiligungen, the company her father founded in gastronomy and hospitality. The family empire includes Hamburg’s five-star Grand Elysée Hotel, the Block House steakhouse chain with dozens of branches across Germany and three other European countries and other businesses. Block is already worth hundreds of millions with her inheritance expected to increase that significantly.

In recent years, however, Block has spent less time at gala events and more time under the glare of criminal headlines. She is suspected of kidnapping her children from her ex-husband, who lives in Denmark, on New Year’s Eve 2023–2024 with partial help from an Israeli commando team. Her trial, which began in early July at the Hamburg regional court, has exposed the details of the affair.

Block married Stephan Hensel in 2005. Nine years later and with four children, the couple divorced in 2014, placing all four children in their mother’s custody in Hamburg.

By 2018, after repeated conflicts with Block, the eldest child moved in with Hensel with Block’s agreement. Later that year, following a vacation on the exclusive island of Sylt, Hensel decided to keep the two youngest children, then 7 and 11, with him and his new wife in Denmark, just 30 kilometers from the German border.

Stephan Hensel

(Photo: Marcus Brandt/AFP)

German courts and child welfare authorities initially cited testimony alleging neglect and violence by Block, granting custody to the father. Block appealed and won, with German judges ruling the children should not be uprooted from their familiar environment. Denmark, the only EU country not obliged to recognize other EU states’ custody rulings, held separate hearings. After hearing the children’s testimony and their wish to remain with their father, a Danish family court ruled they would stay in Denmark.

Since 2021, Block’s partner, sports journalist Gerhard Delling, who is also on trial for assisting her, allegedly joined in plans to bring the children back. They claimed the father was manipulating the children to alienate them from their mother. Money was no obstacle. Early attempts to smear the father and his lawyer as pedophiles failed.

By spring 2023, prosecutors say the case escalated. Block allegedly turned to an Israeli company called Cyber Cúpula Operations, previously employed by the family for cyber protection, and asked staff to “rescue” her children.

Block and Gerhard Delling

(Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Prosecutors say that on New Year’s Eve 2023, two vans arrived at Hensel’s town with at least five people including three former Mossad operatives. Former German intelligence chief August Hanning allegedly helped connect Block with the Israeli firm. Hanning, Delling and Block deny involvement. All face potential sentences of up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

On New Year’s Eve, Hensel, his wife and the children were watching fireworks near their home when the eldest daughter returned home with her stepmother. A masked team dressed in black stormed the house, beat Hensel, pinned him down and allegedly abducted the two younger children.

One child had a distress button and summoned Danish police who tracked the group. The kidnappers stopped near a forest, began to cross on foot and taped the children’s mouths after they cried for help. After 35 minutes, they crossed into Germany and traveled 800 kilometers south. On January 2, 2024, Block collected the children at her Hamburg home. Days later, German police returned them to their father in Denmark. The children have since been moved, live in hiding and have changed their names.

Prosecutors say Block had previously hired the same firm to smear her ex-husband. In court, Block claimed she was unaware of the abduction and said it had been planned and funded by her mother at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euros. Her mother had died nine months earlier.

Hearings are held in Courtroom 237, normally reserved for terrorism cases requiring heavy security. A total of 141 witnesses and 22 experts are scheduled to testify with proceedings expected to last into the new year. It is unclear if the 14-year-old daughter will testify.

Recent testimony has been dramatic. Hensel described the beating he suffered and hearing his children scream as the vans sped away.

(Photo: Marcus Brandt/AFP)

Block’s Israeli co-defendant, referred to as “T.,” was arrested in Cyprus in September 2024 and has been in pretrial detention since November. A 36-year-old martial arts trainer and former police officer, he admitted to leading the operation, conducting surveillance and rehearsals. He said he refused a €10,000 payment, claiming he only wanted to help. He did not answer the judge’s central question of who ordered and financed the mission.

Block testified portraying her ex-husband as manipulative and exploitative. She said she was not born with a silver spoon, noting she flies economy class and drives an old Peugeot. She claimed her late mother’s health collapsed because of the custody battle, saying, “This case killed my mother. There is no doubt Stephan Hensel contributed to her death.” If convicted, Block faces up to 10 years in prison.