When the nation state of Israel was declared the Haganah, was absorbed into the newly formed Israeli Defense Force (in truth the IDF was largely formed out of the Haganah, rather than being something completely new). Imi Lichtenfeld was given the position of overseeing the hand-to-hand fighting program which at the time was still referred to as KAPAP, or sometimes as “Useful Judo”, the title of the first manual of hand-to-hand fighting. Over time Imi started to refine and conceptualize the KAPAP program, whilst working with others, and started to refer to what was being taught as Krav Maga (Contact Combat). After leaving the military he started to develop a civilian form of the system and had more control and direction on the way he developed it than he did in the military. It was during this time and in his later life that he really started to define what Krav Maga was and form it into a distinct system and approach. However, it would be wrong to think that these developments weren’t absorbed back into the IDF program, as one of his top students, Eli Avikazar had taken over his former position within the IDF.

Even after leaving the military (1964), Imi's primary goal was to be able to teach a system of combat that would taken an untrained inexperienced individual/soldier and get them combat ready in the shortest possible time. To do this, Lichtenfeld designed his system around the body's natural reflexive responses when attacked e.g. people naturally flinch when they catch movements coming towards them, a person's hands will automatically come up to pull an attacker's hands or arm(s) away if they are being choked or strangled, the hips will be pulled back, and the arms will go forward if an upwards attack to the groin/stomach area is detected etc. Rather than trying to change the way a person naturally responds and try to replace these natural reactions with "trained" movements, Lichtenfeld built upon them, to create a system of self-defense that was based on the way a person will respond when attacked, rather than how they may like to think they'll respond. He also looked to re-use techniques, so that a defense against a rear strangle, was similar to a defense against a knife threat to the front of the throat, when the attacker is standing behind their target e.g. in a hostage type situation. His original system consisted of something around 28 techniques, and was designed to be used by an infantry soldier carrying a pack on his back - this is why his original system contained only forward movement (to have sideways movement may have compromised the balance of the soldier). In 1988, Imi along with some of his higher belts established the IKMA (Israeli Krav Maga Association).

Imi also drew on his experiences as a young man, fighting against Fascist street gangs, in his native Slovakia. In these situations he had both witnessed the way untrained people responded to various attacks, and come to understand what real-life violence actually looked like e.g. multiple assailants who were probably armed. From this he understood that it was not possible to spend an extended period of time dealing with one attacker; each one needed to be dealt with and dispatched as quickly as possible, which meant using strikes to soft and vulnerable targets such as the eyes and groin.

Krav Maga continued to develop in the civilian sector after Imi retired from teaching, with many of his top belts going on to form their own associations and develop and evolve his approach to self-defense and close combat and/or mix it with their own backgrounds in other martial arts and systems. The way in which Krav Maga has evolved and developed into a number of distinct systems means that "Krav Maga" is more of a generic term that refers to a number of systems which share a common approach and methodology rather than to a distinct system of self-defense. The IDF itself uses Krav Maga in this manner, as an umbrella term, for what its hand-to-hand combat instructors teach. To read more about the common principles and concepts that Krav Maga systems are founded upon, and those which the Krav Maga Yashir system is founded upon please click here.

Krav Maga is not the only system that is taught to the IDF, or the only Israeli martial art in existence. Dr Dennis Hanover, an immigrant from South Africa, developed the system of Hisardut. Dennis’s life has spanned 60 years in the martial arts and he has promoted over 1000 black belts and countless other grades. He was responsible for bringing Judo to the Jewish Olympics (the Macabai) in 1961 – only a year after he first immigrated to Israel – bringing teams from South Africa and Italy to compete. As well as being on the organizing committee he also competed winning one Gold and a Silver (he continued to compete in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Maccabais). From 1965 to 1971 Dennis was champion or runner up six times in the Israeli Judo Federation and received the No 1-grading card. His Judo training actually started in South Africa in 1957 with the Jewish youth organization "Hashomer Hazair" going on to receive his 1st Dan in Judo from Professor Jack Robinson (former SAS), 10th Dan and in 1959 his 2nd Dan. In 1959 he was elected "Springbok" - the S.A. Judo National team. In 1960 when he immigrated to Israel and started the first Judo training courses in "Moledet" village as well as Karate with Shlomo Faiga.

I many ways Dennis Hanover was the first proponent of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). An extremely succesful Karateka and Ju-Jitsu practitioner, he combined these arts with Judo to create a system known as Hisardut (meaning survival in Hebrew), one that is taught to various Israeli Special Forces. In 1983 Dennis received his 5th Dan Ju-Jitsu from the Original European Ju-Jitsu Union, by Mr Bell - life President, Dennis Survival Ju Jitsu/Hisardut was recognized as a modern style of Ju Jitsu and Dennis Hanover as its founder. In 1984 he received his 7th Dan and then his 8th, 9th and 10th Dan OEJJU. In 2004, Mr Bell, before he past away, appointed Dr. Dennis Hanover as his successor - the Life President of the OEJJU. This gave international recognition to the system of Hisardut.