As the reader who sent me this story wrote: “You couldn’t make this stuff up.” The story is from the Chicago Jewish federation newspaper:
Kimberly Mor and Sue Garstki, the owners of Krav Maga Illinois, in Highland Park, are giving new meaning to the phrase “get home safe.”
Their school is the first of its kind on the North Shore licensed to teach Krav Maga—the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)—through the official Krav Maga Worldwide training center and the Ministry of Education in Israel.
In case any of you wondered whether Israel and the IDF have become a replacement for the Jewish religion in the minds of Diaspora Jews, you have this passage to assure you that like the Torah (and the Pope), krav maga is infallible:
“No matter where you go in the world (the Torah) is exactly the same. If there is a mistake in the Torah, then that isn’t considered a Kosher Torah. That’s one of the other things that really pulled me toward Krav Maga was that I knew that it was really from the source, it was the absolute truth when it came to self defense.”
For those of you who see those pictures of IDF soldiers beating Palestinian demonstrators and feel a surge of Jewish pride, then krav maga (literally “contact fighting”) is just for you:
They say many of their students come to Krav Maga not only for self-defense, but also to feel a connection to their family in Israel…
“Everybody feels a connection to the soldiers, whether they are Jewish or not,” Mor said. “Soldiers and their fighting spirit, we really teach fighting spirit here.”
“…I’m not coming from Israel and I’m not Jewish, yet I believe that the army is so strong and so prepared that I’m willing to practice this every day of my life. I love it…”
And we love it too. Someone has to report this use of hasbara to Israel’s Hasbara minister. He’ll undoubtedly want to disseminate news of this brilliant new use of pro-Israel propaganda world-wide, just as he’s touting the co-optation of the European rabbinate on behalf of expounding the joys of Israel to a doubting European public.
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First Israeli tourists are spreading propaganda, now this??? Are we to look forward to a domestic “training program” that will teach our young people to act like IDF thugs?
Even more despicable is that this is just an example of rabid Zionists presuming to speak for all Jews. All they’re doing is ramping up anti-Semitism to new and dangerous levels.
That’s just part of their game. Part of their strategy. So that when anyone attempts to criticize a Zionist, they can claim they’re being antisemitic and dismiss them. They use Judaism and the rest of the Jewish people as a shield, and it’s disgusting.
[comment deleted for comment rule violations]
First off, I’d like to apologize for the tone of my original comment. It was provoked by what I perceived as the harsh and unfairly critical tone of the article, which includes what I consider an inflammatory picture and caption of Israeli police arresting masked men.
The comment by the owner is just a typical marketing technique by martial artists promoting their school of karate over another school that is 99.9% the same. There are three instructor certification organizations for Krav Maga in the USA that are recognized as legitimate: Krav Maga World Wide, the Israeli Krav Maga Association, and the Krav Maga Association Of America. Additionally, Krav Maga is taught in Israel at the Wingate Institute olympic center and by the IDF. Furthermore there are various competitors to the style, such as “Commando Krav Maga” that is widely viewed as illegitimate.
Each organization promotes its brand of Krav Maga as the best version, and there is much bloviating on all sides about who is the best. The comment about by how this particular school of Krav Maga is like a Kosher Torah is just more of the same marketing BS. Nothing more.
That said, what is wrong with feeling a connection to a culture through a style of fighting? Japanese Americans feel a connection to Japan by learning karate. Thai Americans get a cultural connection by learning kickboxing. It is a world wide phenomenon.
Wanting to fight for Israel and having fighting spirit is different than knowingly committing a human rights violation. The whole point of Krav Maga was that it was a scientific fighting style taught to an oppressed people who viewed themselves as physically weak and non-athletic, who formed an army in the face of overwhelming force.
Israel, the IDF, and Krav Maga are certainly not replacements for traditional Jewish religion…they are a small part of what make up the physical power of the State of Israel. But the underlying philosophy of Krav Maga and the State of Israel is the spirit of Israel.
Not by might, and not by power, but by spirit alone, we shall all live in peace.
Once again you’ve proven you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Those “masked men” are actually Border Police using handkerchiefs to conceal their identity fr. the Palestinian protestors. This is standard uniform for undercover police officers. They’re assaulting Palestinians who they’ve knocked to the floor & being watched over by mounted police. Now is yr opinion changed by the disgusting image?
When so much of what the IDF does involves human rights violations, how can you make this claim?
Omigod, you’re misappropriating one of the most wonderful spiritual utternaces of our Prophets in order to make a claim that Israel is a spiritual state. How despicable! Do you even understand what you’re writing? Or are you clueless in that sense as well. The State of Israel is far from realizing the beautiful sentiment of that quotation that I can’t possibly relate to yr comment w. anything other than outright disgust.
You are misinterpreting my comments. It is impossible to tell from the picture if excessive force was used.
>When so much of what the IDF does involves human rights violations, how can you make this claim?
Most Israelis are members of the IDF. Therefore, all Israelis are human rights violators. Come on, give me a break. We all understand that being in the IDF is a rite of passage for young Israeli adults. The IDF has been bringing American teenagers and tourists onto bases for decades now. This is nothing new.
The IDF is an essential agency of Israel. Without it, Israel would not exist. By saying that every member of the IDF is a de facto human rights violator you imply that Israel should not exist as a modern nation state. And you ignore the absolutely horrifying war crimes and crimes against humanity that Arabs have brought to bear against Israel (Hamas and Iraqi rocketing civilians, terrorist attacks, bombings, etc)
Oh you mean having massive horses trampling near the heads of prone men, who in turn are towered over by masked men who are pummeling & arresting them doesn’t allow you to tell what’s going on? Do you think that Israeli undercover agents offer ice cream cones to Palestinians at such demonstrations?
No, most Israeli Jews serve in the IDF. That doesn’t mean they ARE members of the IDF (btw Israeli Palestinians don’t serve). But yes, most people who serve in the IDF when they serve do commit human rights violations. It comes w. the territory.
That is debatable. But certainly it’s true that a country that seeks to dominate another people & steal its land does need an army as violent and brutal as the IDF is.
No, that’s what YOU said. Not what I said nor what I believe. An Israel that doesn’t maintain an Occupation & recognizes a Palestinain state & withdraws to 67 borders could maintain a perfectly reasonable army that wouldn’t have to violate the rights of anyone.
And you ignore the fact that the IDF has killed 10 times as many Palestinian civilians as the Palestinians have killed Israeli civilians. Why would you ignore that?
“a scientific fighting style taught to an oppressed people…”
They are teaching it to Palestinians?
“Japanese Americans feel a connection to Japan by learning karate. Thai Americans get a cultural connection by learning kickboxing.”
Oh, puleeeeeze. If Japanese-Americans, Thai-Americans, Korean-Americans, or Chinese Americans feel a connection to their countries of ancestry by learning Karate, “Kick boxing”, Taekwondo, or Kung Fu it is because those are ancient traditional martial arts forms have been part of the regional culture for thousands of years. They evolved organically over many centuries along with very developed honourable philosophies, and rules of practice. This “Krav Maga” thing does not belong in the same sentence with traditional eastern martial arts.
“The whole point of Krav Maga was that it was a scientific fighting style taught to an oppressed people…”
Oh, come on. Israeli people are oppressed? Do you think you are addressing a bunch of morons here?
Not to defend the buzzard, but I think he’s talking about the European Jews who developed it, thus supposedly giving themselves pride in breaking the bones of their anti-Semitic tormentors.
You mean the European Jews engaged in violent resistance against oppression?! Horrors! How can this BE?
Yes, they even resisted Nazi OCCUPATION!
At the risk of incurring the wrath of Richard again, you do know about Imi Lichtenfeld and the creation of Krav Maga, don’t you?
Given its origins I doubt many Jews would have problems with learning it.
And if learning Krav Maga caused anti-semitism (does learning karate cause anti-Sinoism?), well the problem solves itself, soesn’t it?
“And if learning Krav Maga caused anti-semitism (does learning karate cause anti-Sinoism?), well the problem solves itself, soesn’t it?”
That’s the sort of macho BS that gives some martial artists a bad name.
Fool. Karate is Japanese, not Chinese. The more clever you try to show yourself the more you prove what an ignorant ass you really are.
My mistake-on karate.
Anybody’s mistake on the origins of Krav Maga?
“My mistake-on karate.
Anybody’s mistake on the origins of Krav Maga?”
– Dave Boxthorn
If a person knows anything about martial arts they know something about Imi Lichtenfeld and his system for smashing anti-Semitic Czechs and Sudetenland Nazis, but do you know how Krav Maga works? It has no real rules, so it is endlessly flexible, but it focuses on how to so badly beat up an opponent that they can’t attack again* and to get to that point as quickly as possible. Other martial arts (because they have developed into a form of sport) have defined “end points” for fights, but Krav Maga (which is a form of military-grade self defence) doesn’t except in training. Also, the Israeli martial art has no tournaments, forms of rank, symbolic etiquette, etc. – it is purely a tool that can turn ordinary people into real pain technicians, and it was really meant for serious people, not weekend warrior types.
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* Certainly people can “tap out” and quit, but Krav Maga is designed so that the user can break bones if necessary.
That’s a perfect characterization of Jabotinsky’s philosophy of how to cow the Arabs into submission.
A perfect tool for the IDF & definitely something that warms the cockles of my heart.