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Refusal to Believe
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
October 13, 2023, Israel
Arab terrorists in Gaza with a captured Israeli jeep, imagine these people coming to your home and murdering your family in front of your own eyes. Welcome to our world.
I recall another black October, it was 1973, 50 years ago. I was a child. When school resumed, about one month after the war which the Arab states had begun, we were given an assignment. We were to write a composition, not an unusual task. But this was Israel, a long time ago, and the topic for the assigned composition was - What caused this new war to break out?
Imagine a 12-year-old child in any other country being asked to write such a composition, analyze the causes of our most recent war. Till this very day I can picture myself, a boy of 12, I can picture where I sat, I can picture my desk and I can hear my thoughts and remember what I wrote. Years later I would hear Rabbi Meir Kahane, may God avenge his death, expressing the same idea, but more eloquently. I wrote...The Arabs say they began this current war to reconquer the lands we captured in the 1967 war, but then I am confused, why did they begin the 1967 war? They say they began that war to reclaim territory lost in the 1948 war, but then again, why did they attack us back in 1948? And then in 1936-39 and lets' go back to the 1929 Hebron massacre, a brutal massacre that stands out in our long history of brutal massacres. The photos and the description of brutally are still shocking today. In 1929 we held zero independent territory, what was troubling our Arab nieghbors then?
Rabbi Kahane answered this question. What was bothering them then is what is bothering them now, Jews! Pure and simple, you do not need to have a doctorate in Middle Eastern Studies, you do not need to be a military expert or historian. It is really quite simple. The Arabs sided with Nazi Germany many fought alongside the Nazis. There are many photos of the Arab leader Hajj Amin al Husseini meeting with Hitler. There is no mystery here.
When I was 17 years old, a student at Bar Ilan University, some of my friends arranged to have Rabbi Kahane speak at the university, but he was banned! He was dismissed as a crazy right-wing fanatic, a fascist of sorts, a prophet of doom, not a man to be welcomed in dignified society. Today his words have, tragically, proven to be TRUE, to the letter! Let us see...
I heard, with my own ears, these words...the Arab of yesterday was afraid, he was still shocked by the trauma of his peoples' disgraceful and total defeat in 1967. But a new generation is arising, he does not know these past defeats, he is brazen and he is dangerous. If we continue with this pathetic policy of appeasement and weakness Jewish blood will flow in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
...what we saw in 1929 was the Arabs doing then what the Arab will do today If given the oppporutnity.
What we saw on Saturday, October 7, was the Arabs being given this opportunity and carrying out the massacres that Rabbi Kahane warned about many decades ago.
Many today are expressing shock. and I recall Rabbi Kahane's words, I am shocked at Jews that are constantly shocked.
Why should we be shocked? We should have seen this coming, after all this is nothing new. The only shocking thing is this entire episode is the failure of the Israeli leadership to anticipate and prepare for this attack. What was the problem?
I will not analyze here and now the many failures that took place. I am aware of many of them, but I will leave that to the experts in the weeks to come to analyze what went wrong. I want to focus only on one single point - the decision of many people, the choice, to ignore the danger. and this is applicable to our training in Krav Maga. (after all this is a Krav Maga blog)
There is a popular TV show called Fauda, I personally have never seen it, we live it, that is enough for me. I saw a current interview with one of the founders, a man named Avi Issacharoff. Besides his TV writing abilities apparently he has an extensive military background and is considered quite the expert. So I will share some of what this expert openly shared.
He said things....we failed to get the message. Hamas made themselvs perfectly clear, but we chose to dismiss it. He writes how the Israeli leadership preferred to ignore what was written clearly and plainly in the Hamas charter, i.e. that their goal was the elimination of the State of Israel. "They did not hide their intentions, by the way, it was us who preferred perhaps not to see clearly. ...I once met Ahmad Yasin in the Gaza strip (one of the founders of Hamas). Yasin explained to me then that there will be no State of Israel, i.e., their plan is the destruction of our state. I answered him, half-jokingly, 'and what are you going to do with all the people living here?" He answered, you will return to your pre-1917 homes. I said, Hey Ahmad, my family came here before 1917. And he said, OK, so you can stay, you will get Palestinian citizenship.
It sounds almost like a comical conversation. I did not think he was joking, but at times you simply refuse to believe, to internalize the truth. It was more comfortable for us to enter the state of mind of "OK, we can make deals with them because there is no other partner on the (so called) Palestinian side.
Listen to the words of this expert. but at times you simply refuse to believe, to internalize the truth. The truth that was glaringly obvious to me as a child, the truth that Rabbi Kahane preached and ultimately gave his life for (He was assassinated by an Arab while speaking to a group of Jews in New York) is that there is no peaceful solution to the situation with Hamas, with Arab terrorist organizations. The truth is clear, the only solution is clear, but...we prefer not to see it, we find it "more comfortable" to believe our own lies than face the truth.
One of the many heros in our defense on Saturday morning was a retired commander named Mr. Ziv. He wrote...
“No one could imagine they would do what they did,” Mr. Ziv said. “It is a brutality that we have not witnessed since the establishment of Israel.”
He added, “So now we need to change the whole doctrine about Gaza. No more Hamas.”
No one could have imagined this?? really! Rabbi Kahane spelled it out for us quite clearly. He wrote about it, published several books about it, lectured all over the world. I myself heard him speak about it 45 years ago, and yet, only know, people are waking up.
My friends, I teach Krav Maga, the best self-defense I know. and yet, there are few takers, why? For all the reasons enumerated above; we refuse to see the truth, it is more comfortable to believe our own peaceful delusions. But the truth is there is a great deal of danger in the world. Our task is to train you. Your task is to show up and take part. The warnings have been issued; the writing is on the wall. Do not allow yourself to be caught by surprise. For many, it will be too late.
כלומר להשמיד את ישראל. "בפשטות, כן. זה לא שהם הסתירו אותה אגב, זה אנחנו שהעדפנו אולי לא לראות היטב. מאז שהפכתי לכתב, אלה התובנות שהועברו מחמאס עצמו. פגשתי פעם את אחמד יאסין ברצועה, כשמי שתיווך אז בינינו היה ראש הלשכה שלו איסמעיל הנייה. יאסין הסביר לי אז שלא תהיה מדינת ישראל, כלומר, שיש להם עדיין מחויבות להשמיד אותנו. עניתי לו בחצי בדיחה, ומה תעשו עם כל מי שנמצא כאן. הוא ענה, תחזרו לבתים שלכם לפני 1917. אמרתי לו, היי אחמד, המשפחה שלי באה לפה לפני 1917. והוא אמר, אז אתה יכול להישאר, תקבל אזרחות פלסטינית".
נשמע כמעט כמו שיח מבודח. "לא חשבתי שהוא צוחק, אבל אתה מסרב לפעמים להפנים את האמת. היה לנו נוח להיכנס לסטייט אוף מיינד של 'אוקיי, בוא נעשה איתם עסקים כי אין פרטנר אחר בצד הפלסטיני'. מכרו לנו את זה מאז 2009, אמרו לנו שאין רשות פלסטינית ואפשר להגיע להבנות טובות עם חמאס של חיה ותן לחיות. לפעמים נכה בהם, לפעמים הם יירו רקטות, אבל זהו. לדרג המדיני מאז 2009 הייתה כוונת מכוון, הסבירו לנו שצריך לחזק את חמאס ולהחליש את הרשות הפלסטינית, הפוך מראש הממשלה לשעבר אהוד אולמרט שהאמין שצריך לקרוע את חמאס ולחבק את הרשות".
אבי, מי זה הסבירו, אמרו, בוא נקרא לו בשם. "הרצון של ממשלת נתניהו, מאז 2009, היה להימנע מכל תהליך מדיני מול הפלסטינים. אז בואו נגיד שזה מה יש, ובואו נעשה צעדים שיחזקו את חמאס. כלומר כסף, כמובן, חשמל, מים, סחורות, הקלות בכניסת פועלים פלסטינים מעזה לישראל, שמשמעותן 18 וחצי אלף איש שנכנסים לפה כל יום".
Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
What is the cultural background of Krav Maga? What makes it unique? What makes the Israeli military so effective? Why are Israeli security systems used all over the world?
What are the Biblical origins of Krav Maga and who was the first Krav Maga instructor?
What weapons and military strategies did our Biblical ancestors use?
How has Krav Maga developed in Israel and what are its goals?
All that and more in this unique book.
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