Re: Krav Maga/Haganah/Mike Kanarek
It’s been a long time since I have posted. But since the question come up I figured I’d share. Good luck with it.
If you want to train in a authentic Israeli system stick with Krav Maga. As for Mike Kanarek, he might be a good instructor but there does seem to be issues with him. Here’s a part of an e-mail exchange between a good friend of mine and Nir Maman when he was researching about what system to bring to his Police department.
As for Mike Kanerak, yes I know who Mike Kanarek is very well.
I want it to be very clear that I have absolutely nothing to do with him or his home made system.
I can go into detail with many examples, but to keep it very short, Mike brought me to his club back in 2002 to teach Krav Maga seminars and Israeli Tactical Shooting courses. In 2003 he teamed up with Randy Proto and they started the Haganah/Fight organization.
They asked me to be in charge of the organization’s IPTT division (Israeli Professional Tactical Training) and to use my background, skills, experience to update their programs.
By this point, Mike had already began to use/integrate a lot of my material and methodologies which I put together or created for my own teaching (things like reference points, combat objectives, control, incapacitate, terminate, many engagement tactics, etc) but he also began to use my name and background to create credibility to his system and organization.
They would make claims about the fact that I would travel to Israel yearly for reserve duty and come back with new tactics and update their system with these new tactics. I still have an assortment of videos and Black Belt magazine articles where they (Mike and Randy) make these assertions incessantly.
You have to understand that this was the success behind their marketing campaign. They began marketing an ‘evolution’ of Israeli martial art systems and a system that, in Mike’s words, was more military connected and oriented. By this time, the American Krav Maga scene was a little stale so Mike and his new self created ‘military backed’ home made system along with his elaborate claims began to draw attention.
The only thing was that Mike, other than his 3 years of service in the 80’s, didn’t have any current military connections as far as being able to platform his system in conjunction with his marketing. Other than myself of course, I was his only link of being able to connect his system to the Israeli Special Forces community to validate his marketing.
In 2004, Randy and Mike brought me down to Florida to film an advanced IPTT video series. We filmed for four days and I put an overwhelming amount of my material on film.
Several months later they flew me down to the Martial Arts super show in Vegas to promote their organization and to promote the new FIGHT IPTT video series featuring me.
It’s now 2011, those videos have yet to see the light of day. They were never produced or released. During the ensuing several years they kept on telling me that the videos are still in editing and require super high level editing so it will take a while to finish them and release them. However, mike did help himself to all my material and started appearing in Black Belt magazine articles demonstrating all my material and claiming it was his ingenuity.
When I say that I don’t find Mike Kanarek to be an honest individual, there are many stories and examples I can give (all which are my one personal experiences with him) but I’m not going to go into everything right now, there’s no need.
I’ll give you one example. In 2004, right after we completed the filming for the IPTT series, I flew to Israel for a few weeks for a work related trip. While there I decided to bring back souvenirs for friends, so I went to ‘Rikochet’ which is a chain store that sells IDF military paraphernalia. I purchased an assortment of warrior pins from various units. Warrior pins are the unit identifying pins given to every warrior that completes the qualification course for that unit. Among the pins that I purchased were a few from my previous unit the Counter Terror Unit. The pin for our unit is a black cat with bat wings, and given to us after we complete one of the most difficult qualification courses in the Israeli Special Forces, the CT warrior and instructor course (maslul) which is 14 months long.
When I met Mike at the Martial Arts super show in Las Vegas a month later, the first morning he was kicking off one of his instructor certification courses. We met after breakfast in front of the hall he was going to be teaching the course in while all the students (somewhere around 30 to 40 of them) were inside awaiting his arrival.
Before stepping into the hall, I gave Mike one of the CTU pins I purchased at Rikochet in Israel. I gave it to him as a gift to decorate his desk/club with to help produce some of that military ambiance he’s always projecting to the world.
Mike grabbed it out of my hand with a huge smile on his face and said “ooooooohhhhhhhh, my brother, thank you soooooooo much”, and then darted in to the hall with me right behind him.
He gathered all the students, and before going off into his course welcome and introduction, he said “before I say anything, I want to first introduce you to my brother Nir Maman standing here beside me, he is a warrior from the Israeli SF like me and you will be seeing a lot of him”…..he then proceeded to say “I never show this to anyone” (he held up the CTU warrior pin in the air, yes the one I just gave and purchased for him in Israel for 15 shekels) and then continued to say “you see this pin, this is the most revered pin in the Israeli Spec Ops community, it’s the Lotar/CT warrior pin given only to those who are true CT warriors that complete the Lotar maslul. This pin I’m showing you right now is mine and I never take it out or show it to anyone, but I am standing here with my brother (referring to me) another ISF warrior and so I wanted to show you all exactly the level of professionalism you are dealing with. So feel very privileged!”
Keep in mind that although Mike served in the Israeli Special Forces, he served in a combat demolition/anti tank unit, he did not serve in a Counter terror unit, was not qualified as a CT warrior, and most definitely did not earn a CT warrior pin through completing a CT warrior qual course! I was standing right beside him, looking at him, and I couldn’t believe what I just heard him say!!
In 2006 I went back to Israel and re-enlisted in the IDF. I was assigned to the Counter Terror Unit and School. During my 3 years of service at the CTU/CTS I was a section commander, Lead Counter Terror and Krav Maga instructor, and Operational Team Leader.
When Mike learned that I went back to the army and held the positions that I had, he without hesitation helped himself to my name, background, and reputation (again) to help lend real credibility to his system and organization. He created a fake testimonial in my name and posted it on to his website, and he continued to post on his forum that I was the organization/system’s source when it came to being connected to the field and keeping their system updated, current, and the most advanced system on market.
I remember in a discussion on his forum with individuals from other Krav Maga organizations, he explicitly stated: “Who better to be updating our system than Nir Maman the current Chief instructor at the Lotar”!
I was even told by a former Instructor/school owner of theirs, that in 2008 Mike began to advertise that I would be “coming straight from the field” to teach the 2008 Fight instructor conference course (that’s their yearly mandatory instructor recertification training). Of course, I never showed up. I didn’t even know I was supposed to be teaching that conference!!! When I didn’t show up to the conference apparently Mike told everyone that I was busy with operations in Gaza and the IDF wouldn’t give me the time off!
Honestly, I don’t care anymore to deal with all these dishonest fakes and frauds in the Israeli Training community. The reason I answered you, is because Mike went out of his way in using my name and reputation to create credibility for himself and his home made system, and today I’m still getting people such as yourself contacting me and asking me if I still work or am associated with Mike or his organization.
I work for myself and by myself. I run my own organization and teach my own systems which are true and authentic Israeli Military systems. I do not support, endorse, or recommend Mike Kanarek or his self created system. But of course, it’s up to you to go train with whoever you want and make your own assessments.
To answer your second question, if you want to train in an authentic Israeli system I recommend you stick with Krav Maga. Krav Maga is the only official system of the Israeli Defense Force for both the Special Forces and Regular Forces.
If I can be of any further assistance let me know. Take care.
Nir Maman, SGM
Former Section Commander and
Lead Counter Terror and Krav Maga Instructor
Israeli Special Forces Counter Terror School
