Special GIGN (Raids n°106 Mars 1995)

" "Krav Maga” - or “close-quarter combat" in Hebrew - is the official method of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense of Tsahal [IDF] and that of the police and other Israeli security services. This combat sport was invented by Imi Lichtenfeld, who further developed it during his long career as chief instructor of hand-to-hand combat in the Israeli army.
Mr Lichtenfeld was born in Slovakia in 1910. In 1940, after two years of adventures within the Czech Legion, he embarked upon a long journey which finally brought him to Palestine. His father having taught him self-defense techniques, Imi entered Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organization, where Krav Maga's potential became recognized. Once independence was proclaimed in 1948 and Tsahal was officially created. During the next twenty years Imi was to ascend the army promotion ladder to become chief instructor of physical education and Krav Maga. Here he was to develop the system of self-defense and hand-to-hand combat - Krav Maga - dedicating himself to teaching instructors and to members of the army’s elite units.

Krav Maga which became widely used in an environment in which violence was a daily feature, contains two main parts: self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. Self-defense forms the basis of this discipline. It includes a whole series of techniques whose purpose is to give to those that learn them the possibility to defend themselves against hostile actions, to be capable of having the upper hand over their aggressor and of avoiding injury. It also includes defenses against any sorts of attack, punches, kicks, choking, various grips and armed assaults (with knifes, firearms, sprays or blunt instruments). The pupil thereby learns to apply Krav Maga's various techniques in most types of situation whether familiar or unfamiliar (darkness, sitting or prone positions).

Hand-to-hand combat marks a more advanced stage of Krav Maga, where one learns to neutralize an aggressor quickly and effectively. This applies principles that, strictly speaking, are concerned with ongoing combat physical combat: tactics, feints, attacks with combinations of several techniques, the psychological dimension of combat, etc. "