Krav Maga (Hebrew קרב מגע: "close combat") is a self-defense and military hand to hand combat system. It came to prominence following its adoption by various Israeli Security Forces; now more widely in use including by the special forces of other countries. The version of Krav Maga taught in civilian martial arts classes is more often a simplified version that emphasizes personal self-defense, and is likely to exclude the killing techniques taught to the military, or the holds and come-alongs taught to police forces; there are legal proscriptions in some countries which govern and constrain the teaching of hazardous or life-threatening techniques to civilians. English-speakers often shorten the term to Krav.

History
The beginning of the system that would become Krav Maga in Israel was developed in Hungary-Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld. This system was codified and first taught in Bratislava in order to protect the Jewish community from fascist militias.

When Imi Lichtenfeld came to British Mandate of Palestine prior to the reestablishment of the state of Israel, he began teaching hand to hand combat to the Haganah, the Jewish underground army. After the establishment of Israel, krav maga was the generic term used to reference the hand to hand combat taught to the Israeli armed forces and police.

When Lichtenfeld moved to Israel he changed his name to Or-Sade, a direct translation of his surname into Hebrew. Due to the fact that it is strictly a self-defense and military combat system, Krav Maga is constantly changing. After Mr. Lichtenfeld retired from a long career as chief instructor of close combat in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he started teaching Krav Maga to the civilian population. In this way, a civilian version based on the principles of self-defense was developed.

Prior to 1985, all experts in Krav Maga lived in Israel. Those who traveled outside of Israel to other countries to teach Krav Maga are Gabi Ishai, Moni Aizik, Rhon Mizrachi, Rafi Liben, Suki Ron, Dror Saporta, Boaz Aviram, Eitan Savir and others. A few non-Israelis known to operate a school strictly for teaching Krav Maga are Darren Levine, who teaches in Los Angeles, Alan Feldman, who teaches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Rick Blitstein, who teaches in Miami, Florida and David Kahn New York, New York each certified by the Israeli Krav Maga Association. One non-Israeli, non-Jew who was certified as an expert and instructor was James Keenan, also from the United States.

Since the death of Imi Lichtenfeld, a number of different schools and associations of Krav Maga have developed around the world. There is currently a controversy among various organizations and individuals who claim the mantle as Imi's successor. The most well-known names associated with Krav Maga today are Rhon Mizrachi, Moni Aizik, Darren Levine, Alan Feldman, Rick Blitstein, Dror Saporta, Boaz Aviram and David Kahn in the USA and Haim Gidon, Eyal Yanilov, Eli Avikzar and Haim Zut in Israel.


Principles
In Krav Maga, there are no hard-and-fast rules. It is not a sport and there is no competitive component. All the techniques focus on maximum efficiency in real-life conditions. Krav Maga generally assumes a no-quarter situation; the attacks and defenses are intended to inflict or divert the most pain possible on the opponent. Groin, eye, and other efficient attacks are emphasized, as are a variety of other fairly brutal attacks.

The guiding principles for Krav Maga techniques are:

avoid injury 
go from defending to attacking as quickly as possible 
use the body's natural reflexes 
strike at any vulnerable point 
use any tool or object nearby 
The basic idea is to first deal with the immediate threat (e.g. hands around one's neck), prevent the attacker from re-attacking, then neutralize the opponent, proceeding through all the steps in a very straightforward manner. The emphasis is put on taking the initiative from the attacker as soon as possible.


Haganah
A variant of Krav Maga, called "Haganah" (Hebrew: defense), claims to be not only a martial art, but a method for enabling someone at a disadvantage to overpower a larger attacking adversary. The system's main goal is to have the combatant enter a "point of reference". This point is a lock/grab around the neck and back of the opponent. Because of this "point", the combatant is focused and already has a plan instead of relying on fancy maneouvers that take time to apply, and are difficult to learn. Simple well-placed counterstrikes are applied to defeat the adversary. In addition to hand-to-hand combat and ground-fighting, the system applies defenses against knives, guns, and multiple weapons and attackers.

Techniques that Haganah covers include defense against punches and kicks, escapes and releases from chokes, bear hugs, firearms, grenades, and multiple attackers. It also covers various hand-to-hand combat techniques such as multiple types of arm blows, and different types of low kicks to the legs, executed with or without shoes. There are some ground survival techniques including combat-neutralizing grappling techniques, pinching, tendon and muscle tearing, and for specialized or advanced trained, tactical knife fighting, combat shooting and counter-terrorist strategies and techniques.


Israeli Krav Magen
A very popular branch of Krav Maga in Israel is Israeli Krav Magen (pronounced "Kami" in Hebrew).

It was created in 1989 by the late Eli Avikzar, IMI's prodigy and the first student to be awarded a black belt in Krav Maga. Kami's principles rely on the natural movements of the human body and therefore excels in its simplicity, swiftness and efficiency.

The guiding principles for Krav Magen are:

Avoid injury 
Act as you are able to, yet act correctly. 
Use your knowledge only when it is needed. 
The simple way, meaning, to utilise the shortest fastest and most effective action. 
Kami is widely used among the Israeli Security Forces and has obtained international recognition. Since the death of its founder in 2005 the current head of the system in Israel is Avi Abisidon.


Training
Although Krav Maga shares many techniques with other martial arts, like Savate and Kickboxing (for the fist- and kick-fighting techniques) or Ju-Jutsu (for the grappling and disarming techniques), the training is quite different. It stresses fighting under worst-case circumstances (against several opponents, back to the wall, when protecting someone else, with one arm unusable, when dizzy, against armed opponents, etc).

Training in Krav Maga is an aerobic workout. Training relies heavily on pads. Students take turn holding pads and doing combatives against the pads. This is important because it allows the student to practice the technique at full strength, and the student holding the pad learns a little of what it feels like to get hit. It can be almost as taxing to hold a pad as to practice against one.

Training may employ a speaker system blasting loud music, meant to train the student to ignore peripheral distractions and focus on causing as much damage as possible. Training might also contain ways to deal with situations which could end in fights. Physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible are taught.

A typical Krav Maga session in a civilian school is about an hour long and mixes aerobic training with self-defense teaching. First, the instructor will run a drill to get the class's heart rates up. Then, after stretching, the instructor will teach two or three self-defense techniques. Especially in the beginning, the techniques will either be combatives (or strikes: punches, hammer-fists, elbows, knees and roundhouse kicks are important) or grappling (breaking out of chokes or wrist-grabs, getting out from under an opponent while on one's back). After that, the class usually moves to a drill that combines the techniques just taught with an aerobic technique. Finally, there is the final drill intended to burn out the students.


Who Uses Krav Maga Today
In 1964, Grandmaster Imi Lichtenfeld finished his military service and adapted Krav Maga to civilian frameworks. In Israel, the style has become an important part of the educational system and is taught to elementary and high school students on the national curriculum along with being taught at the Wingate Institute, one of the world's leading physical fitness centers. It is taught to men, women, and children under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Sport and Education. Krav Maga is the official system of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense employed by the Israeli Defense and Security Forces, the Israeli National and Military Police and its Special Operations and Anti-Terrorist Units. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) including their Special Forces Units, Israeli Police, and Internal Security Branches currently uses this style on a day-to-day basis. Haim Gidon and Eyal Yanilov are the most well-known advocates of the discipline in Israel, and are involved with spreading Krav Maga across the world. Haim Gidon hosts several international seminars every year in Netanya Israel. Eyal spends most of his time writing Krav Maga instruction books and teaching seminars across the globe.

Krav Maga is taught to all ages and abilities, at community centers, schools, and clubs throughout the world. Krav Maga is taught to Sky Marshals, commercial airline crews, and has expanded outside the borders of Israel and is very successful in the United States, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Poland, Japan, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Many United States local law enforcement, federal agencies, state police, SWAT and other special operations teams have been taught Krav Maga.

Krav Maga Worldwide Enterprises and the Krav Maga Association of America are the primary advocates of Krav Maga in the USA and have pioneered its use by law enforcement personnel. Chief Instructor, Mr. Darren R. Levine, is a Senior Deputy District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles’s Crimes Against Peace Officers Section (CAPOS), a special unit dedicated to prosecuting violent crimes. David Kahn heads the Israeli Krav Maga Association branch in the United States in New York and has authored the book Krav Maga published in 2004. Other organizations and their members that have been trained in Krav Maga include, but are not limited to the following:

Federal Bureau of Investigations 
United States Marine Corps 
United States Marshals Service 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 
Drug Enforcement Administration Arrest and Control Unit 
U.S. Treasury Department 
U.S. Immigration Service 
U.S. State Department 
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency 
U.S. Coast Guard - Port Security Unit 
U.S. Coast Guard - Tactical Law Enforcement 
U.S. Coast Guard - Drug Interdiction 
New York City Police Department 
Illinois State Police 
Chicago Metro Police Department 
Alabama State Police 
Baltimore County Police 
Connecticut State Police 
Pennsylvania State Police 
Texas Department of Public Safety 
Ohio State Highway Patrol 
Florida State Highway Patrol 
California Highway Patrol 
California Department of Justice 
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department 
Los Angeles Police Department Academy 
Santa Monica Police Department 
El Segundo Police Department 
Beverly Hills Police Department 
Burbank Police Department 
Pasadena Police Department 
New Jersey State Police 
New Athens Police Department 
National Police of Iran 

This system is trained world wide. The European federation is headed by Richard Douieb, who teaches Krav Maga in Paris. The World Krav Maga Federation gathers seven European countries and is headed by Thierry Viatour.

In addition to the Israel Defence Forces, several other special forces (for example GIGN, FBI, and SWAT) have already adopted this system for their contact combat.


Krav Maga in fiction
Sam Fisher of Tom Clancy's video game franchise Splinter Cell is a practitioner of Krav Maga. 

Etymology
The generic name in Hebrew is usually translated as "close combat." The word maga (מגע) means "touch" or "close." The word krav (קרב) means "fight" or "battle." A translation like "contact combat," though, can be misconstrued as something like "kickboxing" or "full contact karate."

As a historical note, the original name of Krav Maga was Kapap (sounds like "ka-PAPP") which was an acronym for Krav Panim el Panim, face-to-face combat.