Krav Maga Vs. Krav Maga

Ok, so there are a trillion and one Krav Maga organizations. It's almost as bad as Christian denominations arguing as to which is the legitimate "one".

Now, before I launch into my tirade, please understand that I myself spent years with Krav Maga Worldwide under Darren Levine. I like Krav Maga, and I took many principles from it in the early stages of development of my own creation - the Hybrid Fighting Method.

My issue isn't with Krav Maga or it's effectiveness - it's mainly one sticking point that I want to address, and get your feedback if you are qualified to give some. Many of you in my Facebook network are Krav Maga (KM) instructors from various KM organizations. I look forward to your agreement and your dissent.

So...here goes.

Recently there has been a big push that the Israeli Krav Maga Association (IKMA) is the ONLY legitimate source of REAL Krav Maga. Certainly, Israel is the origin of Krav Maga. That fact is undisputable.

However, origin and innovation are not the same thing. The basic principles of Krav Maga are (taken from Wikipedia):

- Counter attacking as soon as possible (or attacking preemptively).

- Targeting attacks to the body's most vulnerable points such as the eyes, jaw, throat, groin, knee etc.

- Neutralizing the opponent as quickly as possible by responding with an unbroken stream of counter attacks and if necessary a take down/joint break.

- Maintaining awareness of surroundings while dealing with the threat in order to look for escape routes, further attackers, objects that could be used to defend or help attack and so on.

Furthermore, KM is "supposed" to be continually evolving. Who's to say that one organization isn't doing a better job of that than the other?

After Imi Lichtenfeld (the founder of KM) died, there were several qualified proponents of KM to further develop the system. Who was "officially" tasked with this? I don't personally know.

Here are what some KM figures in different organizations have to say about their version of the system:

YIGAL ARBIV
ISRAELI KRAV MAGA ASSOCIATION (IKMA)

"Krav Maga is Israeli not American" says Yigal Abriv, 4th Dan Black Belt and 22 year veteran of Krav Maga. If you want to be an instructor in Krav Maga you must come to Israel and learn from the source of the martial art, which was formed in 1948 upon Israeli statehood. "

Source:

http://www.usprwire.com/Detailed/Business/Authentic_Israeli_Krav_Maga_Taught_in_Austin_Texas_by_Instructor_Robb_Hamic_111698.shtml

ROBB HAMIC
ISRAELI KRAV MAGA ASSOCIATION (IKMA)

"An instructor must fight and learn properly so you can bring this knowledge back to your students. I chose to study directly under the Grand Master of Krav Maga, Haim Gidon, because I wanted to learn from the source rather than a system with false claims."

"Israeli Krav Maga has no rules and is continually enhanced to deal with today's real-life threats. Israeli Krav Maga combines all elements of self defense in its fighting."

Source:

http://www.usprwire.com/Detailed/Business/Authentic_Israeli_Krav_Maga_Taught_in_Austin_Texas_by_Instructor_Robb_Hamic_111698.shtml

SAM SADE
KRAV MAGA WORLDWIDE (KMWW)

"My name is Sam Sade. I am originally from Israel. I am a 3rd Degree Black belt in Krav Maga, and one of the lead instructors for Krav Maga Worldwide."

"Krav Maga was originally developed for the Israeli army. The system not only belongs to the army, but also to the country. As you guys know, the system started in the military, and so is less of a martial art, and more of a brutal hand to hand combat system which can be very dangerous to the attacker and even more dangerous to the defender, especially when we are talking about weapon techniques. There is a world-famous university for sports in Israel, located in Natanya, called the Wingate Institute. We have an army base in the university. The Krav Maga instructor training at Wingate Institute is taken so seriously that every instructor passing through the program has to be certified by both Krav Maga and IDF Krav Maga Lead Instructors. The only people that have gone through this kind of certification that I know of in the United States are Darren Levine, Amir Perets, and me. Darren Levine, not only passed the course, he was also certified by Imi, the founder of Krav Maga to take over the system and to teach it in America. (Imi was the founder and the man in charge of hand to hand combat for the entire Israeli military from 1948 to 1964.) As an Israeli who has been involved in the system both in Israel and here, I am certain that we are teaching the system as well, if not better than it is being taught in Israel. There is also a great deal of communication and sharing of information and training techniques between Krav Maga in Israel and Krav Maga in America."

Source:

http://www.kravmaga.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1775&highlight=innovation

JOHN WHITMAN
KRAV MAGA ALLIANCE (KMA)

On politics in KM:

"We want to stay out of them. Period. We want to be inclusive rather than exclusive. We encourage our affiliates to join other organizations, Krav Maga and otherwise. Learn as much as you can. Discard what you think is ineffective. Stay with us as long as we are beneficial, and move on to something else if it suits you. If you are looking to join another Krav Maga organization, there are many out there. If you want a recommendation from us, we will refer you to Krav Maga Worldwide. That is where John Whitman began. John helped grow that organization, and there are good people there. If you want to stay with us exclusively, that's fine, too. But we'll STILL encourage you to get as much knowledge as you can."

Source:

http://kravmagaalliance.org/index.php?%2Fstart%2F

So, who's right?

All martial arts and combative systems are expressions of human movement. Can one culture (Israeli or other) claim ownership of an idea?

I don't think so. This is a myth.

As Ayn Rand says, "Just as there is no such thing as a collective or racial mind, so there is no such thing as a collective or racial achievement. There are only individual minds and individual achievements - and a culture is not the anonymous product of undifferentiated masses, but the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men." (Racism, The Virtue of Selfishness)

She also says: "A nation's culture is the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men, which their fellow-citizens have accepted in whole or in part, and which have influenced the nation's way of life. Since a culture is a complex battleground of different ideas and influences, to speak of a "culture" is to speak only of the dominant ideas, always allowing for the existence of dissenters and exceptions." (Don't Let It Go, Philosophy: Who Needs It)

So, although Krav Maga came from Israel originally (by the way, from a guy born in Budapest...not Israel. He didn't move to Israel until 1942), it is not Israel's sole property - it is Imi Lichtenfeld's.

And many of these instructors from different Krav Maga organizations are very very very good at what they do. I have personally trained with Sam Sade (quoted above) and many other instructors. The good ones that I have trained with are all in agreement with what John Whitman said above - they encourage you to train everywhere and gain as much knowledge as possible in an effort to be best equipped to protect yourself.

And THAT...is what Krav Maga is all about!