Krav Maga Judgement
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International

May 14, 2014, Maaleh Adumim

I do not always like the things I see on Facebook, some of the stuff is just unbearable fluff. Today I saw something along the lines of ...those who judge others are really lacking inner peace because if you truly have peace, you will find no fault in others, or something along those lines.

I stopped "following" this person as there is only so much fluff I can take.

Then I say a posting by an IKI Instructor in South Africa. He posted a video of a woman being attacked in a parking line. And let me tell you something, I am judging this woman and the woman who answered her phone call at the Emergency Center.

Yes, I will judge. 

I begin...

The video begins in a dark parking lot. There is only one car in the lot. It appears to be night. The woman enters her car and sees a "suspicious" character just walking around randomly. She calls Emergency services and explains the problem.

The Lady at the center asks the woman in the car to describe the man. Then she tells the woman to stay in her car and lock the door. The woman in the car is of course nervous and she cannot find her keys; she begins to panic.

The lady at the Emergency centers says, "do not worry, we have your location, we are sending someone over".

The man walks up to the car, smashes the window with some blunt object, pulls the woman out. We see her being dragged away and we hear screams.

The lady at the emergency center is saying something like "are you OK?".

The man returns, there is no more sound from the driver, she is out of the picture, and he drives off peacefully with his new car. Clearly, he had no trouble finding the keys.

Now I will judge. I guess the fluffy woman on Facebook will judge me as being unhappy with my life. So be it. I do not care.

First thing we teach is that one should use common sense.

  • Do not enter an empty parking lot alone at night.
  • Do not enter the parking lot without having your keys handy.
  • Do not be the last person to leave the building, entering the parking lot alone at night.

We continue. Instead of focusing on finding her keys, and how hard should that be, she calls the Emergency center, using precious seconds and diverting her attention from what was most urgent: finding the keys and getting the hell out of there.

Personally, if I could not find my keys I would get out of the car and run back to the safety of the building I just left. The lady at the Emergency center tells her to stay in the car. Why did she think a locked car would provide safety? Clearly, we all know how criminals break into locks cars every few seconds!!! They smash the window. What kind of advice is this!!

Who is training the staff at the Emergency Center?!? I must disagree with the advice offered, given the circumstances. What help is a team on the way when the criminal is clearly much closer?

We have defenses for being pulled out of car. We have methods of using the attackers' energy to easily hurt him. But before self defense comes common sense, which is clearly not so common.

Had this woman followed basic safety tips which we offer at every Tour and Train session in Israel during our "Defense in and around a car", she would have been fine. Had she learned some basic Krav Maga she would most likely have had a very good fighting chance of getting away from this. Sadly, none of that was the case.

I have seen on Facebook people writing, "Maybe we should teach boys not to be rapists". Great idea! So maybe we should convince people not to do criminal acts.

Well, while you are busy doing the convincing, we are busy training. I invite you to join us.

Moshepic

Moshe Katz conducts Krav Maga and safety seminars all over the world. To arrange or attend a seminar please contact us. Stay Safe.

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