What is Kapap?

History review from www.kapap.net:

Prior to 1948 the modern state of Israel did not exist. The last time the world heard anything about Israel was in 70 A.D. when Roman legions under General Titus brutally squashed a Jewish revolt, dispersed the majority of the Jewish population throughout the Roman Empire and vengefully renamed the nation to Palestina (the Latin word for Israel’s ancient enemy Philistine), which is today the Gaza strip and Tel-Aviv area.

Although there has always been a remnant of Jews living in the Holy Land for the past 1,932 years, they have been under constant subjugation by foreign powers: the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Crusaders, again the Arabs, and the Ottomans (the Turks). The Ottoman Empire (1300 – 1918) ruled over both the indigenous Jews and Arabs in the region until their defeat in World War I (1914 – 1918) and the implementation of the British Mandate of 1919.

In this same year the Jews formed an underground army, known as the Haganah (the Hebrew word for defense) to deal with the ongoing conflict with Arab gangs and in anticipation of the creation of a Jewish state promised to them by the British in the Balfour Declaration.

Yet, despite the popularity of the Zionist movement and increased Jewish immigration, statehood was slow in the making. Instead the colonial powers allowed the local police to form an elite unit called the Notrim (guards) to defend isolated Jewish agricultural settlements against marauding Arabs and to quell ongoing racial riots steadily growing in the urban centers.

Although the Notrim was successful at protecting the small outposts, they were not as effective in handling the deadly riots, or pursuing the enemy back behind his own lines. A Haganah officer named Yitzhak Sadeh (considered the father of the Israeli Special Forces), understood the police unit’s shortcomings and formed a new army unit called the Nodedot (wanderers).

When World War II (1939 – 1945) brought British Forces once again into global conflict (against the Axis powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy) the need for oil was paramount. However, this rare commodity was threatened by German troops advancing eastward in North Africa and many Arab tribes openly siding with the Nazis. Reluctant at first, the British turned once again to Jewish fighters and formed the first official Israeli Special Forces unit on May 14, 1941 known as Pal'mach (a Hebrew acronym for Plugot Machatz, which means strike platoon).


The original numbers of personnel sanctioned for Pal'mach training under British supervision was only suppose to be 1,000 fighters, but the Haganah overstepped their bounds and trained roughly 3,000 men in preparation for a future Jewish army to be used after the war.

The training that the Pal'mach commandos received was called Kapap (Hebrew acronym for Krav Panim l’Panim, face-to-face combat). The word “krav” is also translated commonly as “fight.” Kapap was not one system, but a mixture of rigorous physical conditioning, firearms and explosives training, radio communications, wilderness survival training, combat first aid and foreign language courses (the enemy languages of German and Arabic).

The empty hand combat training was a combination of Western fighting systems such as boxing (London Prize Ring Rules), Greco-Roman wrestling and standard British military knife and baton training. At this time there was no one single vocabulary word or term used for the self-defense techniques in the program, Kapap was an all inclusive term.


The Pal'mach’s three combat brigades went onto assist the British in a variety of victorious campaigns: the invasion of Vichy (the French pro-Nazi government) Lebanon and Syria, espionage missions in Jordan and fighting along side the British SAS (Special Air Service) in the Balkans.

When the war ended, so did the Jewish-British cooperation. The Jews expected the Brits to hold up their end of the bargain for a homeland. When it was apparent that the deal would not go through the Pal'mach used guerilla tactics against the British military and police installations.

There were also terrorist attacks carried out by the Jewish ran Stern Gang and Irgun, but they were strongly condemned by the Haganah.

The newly formed United Nations (formed in 1945) knew that it was only a matter of time before an all out war between the Jews and Arabs would break out when the frustrated British vacated, so they tried to intervene by partitioning the region – a Jewish state on the west side of the Jordan River and an Arab state on the east side of the river (today’s Jordan).

When the British lowered the Union Jack and left the region, the Jews declared their Independence on May 14, 1948. Hours later the forces of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinians attacked the newborn nation of Israel.

The unofficial-turned-legitimate Haganah faced its greatest challenge and was officially renamed the Tzava Haganah Le’Yisrael. (transliteration army defense to Israel or known in English as the Israeli Defense Forces or (IDF).

In the War of Independence the Israeli's managed to not only survive, though greatly outnumbered and poorly equipped, but went on to form one of the most respected militaries in the world.

In 1957, the ultra-secret unit named Sayeret Matkal (Unit 216) was formed by intelligence officer Avraham Aran who closely modelled it after the British SAS.

In the 1970s this unit gained worldwide fame after a series of spectacular counter terrorist operations, the most famous of which was Operation Thunderball July 3-4, 1976 (known in the U.S. as the Raid on Entebbe) where operators flew into the hostile African nation of Uganda and rescued 103 hostages who had been hijacked by German and Palestinian terrorists.

In the IDF, the Special Forces units had a monopoly on the martial arts training and Kapap came to be known as Lochama Zehira (micro fighting or micro combat) in the 1970s.
The system included a variety of military skills in addition to hand-to-hand combat. However, with Israel being at war with one Arab neighbour or another with unrelenting cross-border terrorist attacks, regular units also needed some sort of hand-to-hand fighting system.

What they got was a basic no-nonsense system.


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Definition of the terms Krav Panim El Panim (Kapap קפ"פ)

Kapap (קפ"פ) is the Hebrew acronym for Krav Panim El Panim ("Panim"- Face, which means Face-to-Face combat). The Kapap program teaches a unique combination of Israeli Military/Police and Counter Terror Units hand to hand defensive tactics, which helps you, defeat stronger, more skilled and even armed opponents.

Defending yourself and your loved ones does not have to take years to learn.

Military and Security Personnel for example usually only have a few days to learn hand to hand combat. Kapap does not employ countless, complicated techniques but is an easy to learn system, which enable you to get confident and capable right away.

Kapap is practical and can be learned by just about anyone, in any condition, in a short time.
Due to the structure and logic of the techniques, the system is absorbed quickly.

Kapap's philosophy is that no one has the right to interfere with you with malicious intent and anyone who does, should be dealt with immediately and aggressively - the priority being that you are safe and secure at the end of the day.

All Kapap's tactics are hardcore, they are fast and they are effective.

Whether you are a housewife or a security professional, Kapap has a program that will enable you to achieve your personal security goals and meet your self-defence needs.

The following definition appears in the 1965 Army dictionary:

Krav Panim El Panim (Kapap קפ"פ) (close combat) - combat in the range of manual contact with the enemy, which uses spears, rifles, machine guns and other hand weapons.

The term Krav Maga (קרב מגע ) is not defined in the Army dictionary.


Remember, only dead fish swim with the flow!
If a technique works then continue to use it and if it doesn't, then get rid of it, regardless of the martial art system. It could be Kapap, Kendo, Karate, Krav Maga, Kali, Jiu-Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, or any other martial arts systems.

That's the beauty of Kapap - evolution and evaluation, truly an open minded martial art.

"All Kapap/Lotar Instructors are Krav Maga instructors in the military, but not all Krav Maga instructors are Kapap/Lotar instructors, which is the highest level of training".


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What is Lotar?

LOTAR is a complete combat concept, derived from real-life situations and personal experience, LOTAR focuses on teaching techniques that recognize, assess and neutralize a threat in the quickest, simplest and most instinctive way possible."

In the beginning there was KAPAP, which means face to face combat (krav panin l'panim in Hebrew), this included only the fighting techniques that were necessary for the battlefield. These included hand-to-hand combat, stick-fighting using short and long sticks, live and edged weapons, and obstacle courses designed to toughen them physically and mentally. KAPAP was the guerilla warfare combat techniques utilized by the first Israeli Commands who fought for the creation of Israel. From these KAPAP techniques the primary people involved went in different directions some took out the military applications and created Krav Maga, which was geared more towards a very basic self-defense system.

Kapap is the former term for the modern term LOTAR. LOTAR as a style continued to be cultivated and became Micro Combat or LOTAR. It was at this time that the innovators of the LOTAR system changed forever the training style of LOTAR by creating a more dynamic approach in place of the static training that was in place at the time. This Dynamic approach integrated incredible stress induced tactics teaching the student how to react to the ever-changing combat environment while under stress. The system of LOTAR kept moving and changing to address changing world of Counter Terrorism in Israel and continues to do so through present time.


Until recently LOTAR has not been taught outside of Israel. Former Israeli Defense Force Major Avi Nardia, a veteran martial artist and former LOTAR instructor for the YAMAM (Israel's most elite Counter Terrorist Unit), The YAMAM employs only battletested techniques, which have been cultivated over time and personal experience. The martial art and theory of LOTAR is the backbone of the YAMAM Counter Terror System it operates under the idea that, the simplest instinctive method of self-defense is the most effective.

Under the instruction of Maj. Avi Nardia and the staff at LOTAR International, the System of LOTAR has been opened to both Law Enforcement and Civilians for the very first time outside of Israel.

LOTAR encapsulates the entirety of fighting techniques used in close encounter combat - from empty hand, through the use of edged weapons and firearms, up to infiltration and sabotage training, as Israel's elite forces practice them. It combines shooting and self defense and analysis of all kinds of different and unusual violent situations, using any available weapon or improvising one, considering the environmental conditions - urban or rural, light, ground, water and weather, and long, short and close distance.

With the recent terrorist activities brought to light in the last two years and the number ADW (Assault with a Deadly Weapon) cases at an all time high, civilians, law enforcement, and even the military are now more than ever vulnerable to random acts of violence. Personal security is no longer an assumed right. Armed burglary, rape, murder, home intrusion, aggravated assault, carjacking, kidnapping, and terrorism are on the rise. Random acts of violence are occurring at this moment, without warning and without prejudice.


Civilians of all ages, business executives, and the corporate traveler are all at risk the moment they walk out the door or unfortunately even before. LOTAR, derived from real-life situations and personal experience, focuses on teaching techniques that recognize, assess and neutralize a threat in the quickest, simplest and most instinctive way possible.

September 11th brought devastation and terror never before seen by this country. Since that infamous day, we have come to the unacceptable realization that the most powerful military in the world and that U.S. law enforcement was and presently is not adequately prepared to combat such horrific acts. Acts of terrorism cannot be fought with solutions wrought by probable scenarios.

The YAMAM, the elite of the elite within the Israeli Special Forces are considered the best in the world when it comes to Counter Terrorist Tactics and Execution. Their reputation has been borne out of continuous cultivation of real life Counter-Terror theory and methods due to the never-ending terrorist activity, fought on a daily basis. These battle-tested theories and tactics have been proven time and time again to work under the most stressful and realistic conditions.

The majority of existing martial arts schools, although based on martial art and theory, have lost the actual application of the techniques that they are teaching. LOTAR has been created around the modern day martial application, continually modified to address the ever changing world and the need for new and evolved.

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