A development in the child abduction case that has roiled Germany: Two Israeli citizens, Said, 34, and Yitzhak, 42, who were part of the alleged kidnapping gang working for millionaire heiress Christina Block, arrived secretly in Hamburg late Wednesday accompanied by their Israeli lawyer, Nir Yaslovitzh. The two came to give full confessions and, in effect, to implicate Block.
Block’s trial has been underway in court for several months. She is accused of plotting to kidnap two of her children, Klara, 13, and Theodor, 10, who were staying in Denmark with her ex-husband on New Year’s Eve 2024. The case has received extensive media attention, in part because of the defendant’s identity and the other suspects involved.
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Christina Block
(Photo: Marcus Brandt/AFP)
The arrival of Yitzhak and Said, whose family names have not been published in the German media, was arranged after talks Yaslovitzh held with prosecutors. Earlier, the judge agreed to cancel the international arrest warrants that have been pending against them for nearly two years, on condition they testify. Yitzhak appeared at a police station Thursday and gave testimony. Said, whom investigators say drove one of the getaway vehicles, is expected to testify Friday.
Germany’s Bild newspaper documented the two at Hamburg’s airport. Until now, they had not been able to leave Israel. At the request of prosecutors in Hamburg, the court canceled the warrants, allowing them to travel to Germany and return safely. Bild reported that Yitzhak gave a broad statement and fully confessed. He described how the chain of command worked, how contact was made with Christina Block, and how the team operated on the ground in Denmark. According to him, the operation was not secret. Those involved used their real passports, rented cars and paid with credit cards. He said he was told the operation had been coordinated with German authorities. He added that after the kidnappers returned on New Year’s Day morning, they even raised a toast with Block at a hotel after she received her children.
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Block at the courthouse
(Photo: Marcus Brandt / POOL / AFP)
Earlier this week it was revealed that David Barkai, 68, a former member of the IDF’s Unit 504 and, according to various reports, also a former Mossad agent, told German investigators that Block paid him 220,000 euros to abduct her children from their father. German media reported that Barkai’s testimony, as the suspect who planned and carried out the abduction as the head of the kidnapping team, incriminates the mother and her lawyer. Barkai said the two paid him and the kidnappers about 220,000 euros for taking the children from their father in Denmark and delivering them to Block. He claimed the money was transferred to him and his men by Block’s attorney, and that Block herself also handed him 20,000 euros in cash.
Block, both in court and in police questioning, has said she did not know about the abduction before it took place, only afterward. She also claimed that her late mother was responsible for hiring Barkai, and said in her testimony, “This case killed me.”
A former German intelligence agent, Werner Mauss, has claimed that former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Perry and the Israeli business intelligence firm CGI Group were asked to set up the kidnapping squad. Perry and CGI denied the allegation, and a defamation suit was filed against Mauss over the claim.
First published: 22:07, 11.28.25