What is the deal with all these Israeli martial arts?

[chicagoguy]

What is the deal with all these Israeli martial arts? Has anyone seen any of F.I.G.H.T. ads in Blackbelt? They certify dozens of instructors/schools at time, most of these teachers/schools are TKD which I think is very telling. I' m not trying to knock Israeli fight arts as a whole but every school I've seen such as Pow! in Chicago teaches it as this watered down cardio-version (even when the classes say it is for "street fighting") In fact at Pow! They were using (i.e. teaching from the book) a Krav Maga "instructor's manual" to teach the class, not what you expect for the hundred some dollars a month you pay there! The sales pitch being that Israel has never lost a war and they have been at war almost always for the last 50 years! But if you think about it how many wars have been decided by hand to hand combat? I think the billions of dollars the Israeli government receives in military aid probably has more to do with it than any elite fighting system they developed.

[Antagony]

*grabs popcorn and waits for the gangrape*

[chicagoguy]

I do not value the opinion of voyeuristic redneck. Oh, by the way choke.

[Kiozz]

Join.

Now that they are urging French Jews to go to Israel for ph34r of the evil Magrebins, you might end up learning some Savate.

[Antagony]

Originally posted by chicagoguy
I do not value the opinion of voyeuristic redneck. Oh, by the way choke.
What are you talking about? ENGLISH PLZ KTHX

[Darting Fingers]

"What is the deal with all these Israeli martial arts?"

Expand on "deal".

"But if you think about it how many wars have been decided by hand to hand combat?"

Hundreds, maybe thousands.

Don't talk about valuing other peoples opinions because at the moment, no one values yours.

[chicagoguy]

"But if you think about it how many wars have been decided by hand to hand combat?"

Hundreds, maybe thousands.

How many modern wars? Please! Face it, having the Israeli military leveling a town with battleship dispels the notion of hand to hand combat deciding the outcome of modern wars. When the Australian military kicks the shit out of Indonesia and East Timor is it because they have a better hand to hand combat system or the fact their military’s technology is decades more advance then Indonesia’s and East Timor’s? For the last 50 years was the US state department worried about the USSR’s Sambo capabilities or their nuclear capabilities? I guess the US kicked the shit out Iraq because the US soldiers are betters fighters than the Iraqi ones and not the fact that Iraq didn’t have weapons anywhere in the neighborhood of the US.

[Darting Fingers]

You are correct that hand to hand combat has not been a major contributor to wars over the past century or so.
The fact that things like Krav Maga and whatever else has come out of Israel counts little for wether it is a good system or not.

[chicagoguy]

I have heard that Darren Levine the US head instructor of Krav Maga is quite talented however, who is certifying these new instructors/schools? How is Krav Maga actually different from any other system? I've never got a straight answer from anyone that teaches or takes any Israeli martial on this latter question, all they do is say it was battlefield tested, the Israelis have never lost a war and that's why its superior. I just want to know how Israeli arts are so different i.e. better than other arts and if anyone can attest to having a good experience with any of the Israeli martial arts.