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She Knows Krav Maga
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International
May 6, 2016, Israel
Recently there has been a video, claimed to be from a surveillance camera in an Israeli night club, of an Israeli girl beating up a couple of "thugs" who tried to touch her. The caption is "Israeli girl knows Krav Maga".
There are a few myths being used over here. Firstly, from what I can see the entire thing looks staged and fake, but even if it were real I would not be interested in it.
Even if a guy did touch a woman, does this warrant a full blast physical attack? knee kicks to the groin, devastating brutal blows etc., or wouldn't a strong empowered woman find a less violent way of getting out of this? And no, you cannot accuse me of "minimizing the importance of inappropriate advances", there is a reasonable use of force concept that all are bound by, even police. You cannot just go ape on someone because you are part of the "Me too" generation.
Her response seems to promote the "Bad Ass tough guy" kind of Krav Maga that we at IKI totally oppose. This was not a gang rape attempt; this was nothing more than a lame pickup attempt.
We continue...
Clearly the attempt here is to perpetuate the myth, to foreigners, that "all Israelis know Krav Maga", if only it were true. The truth is very few Israelis learn any Krav Maga at all. I know very few instructors who can make a living in Israel teaching Krav Maga, that is why they all go abroad, and sell these myths and stories. In recent months there have been many knife attacks, usually the targets were police officers and soldiers. None of them successfully used Krav Maga knife defenses, usually it was a third party who shot the assailant dead. So where is all the "Military Krav Maga" that we hear so much about??
Where? It is all a myth. Krav Maga training is sadly lacking in the Israeli law enforcement community, just as it is in most countries.
Videos such as these go viral on social media because they perpetuate a myth, nay a fantasy, that many have. Notice how it is always a pretty girl, usually with a ponytail, being harassed by men? And the sexy pretty girl uses "Krav Maga" to "teach the bad boy a lesson". Lets' call it what it is; entertainment, Hollywood fantasy. And trust me, this does not help normal women. Ironically, these videos help perpetuate a sexual image of women, it is always the beautiful young woman who uses her Krav Maga skills to emasculate a man for even looking at her when a far less violent approach would be more appropriate. Is this what we are trying to teach? Are we trying to create bullies?
The title of the video says, She "Knows" Krav Maga. What does this mean? is she a black belt? a Master? a 10th dan? Personally, I have never used that phrase. I say I train in Krav Maga; I teach Krav Maga, but I am always learning, I have not reached a state where I can say I "Know" Krav Maga. My own teacher, a world-famous instructor and soldier, never used that phrase either. He would always say, we aim to minimize damage, he never claimed more than that.
So lets' leave fantasy for those who do it best, the guys in Hollywood, and let us, the instructors, keep working on real life practical self defense, the kind that will get regular people home safe. At home you can get a drink and enjoy this sort of entertainment.
IKI Krav Maga Instructional DVDs
This is not entertainment.
Step by step instructional DVDs from Israel, easy to follow.
IKI Krav Maga On Line Distance Learning program.
No matter how old we get, no matter how much we train, we are always still learning.