Israeli Sport authority recognition in Martial Arts
What Martial Arts Were Recognized by the Israeli Sport Authority
In 1992 the Israeli Sport authority, recognized four disciplines as authentic Israeli martial arts:
'Krav-Maga Israeli ' - founded by Imi Lichtenfeld.
'Krav Magen Israeli '- founded by Eli Avikzar, (one of Imi's top students).
'Shi-Huen' - founded by Shlomo (Sydney) Faiga.
'Hisardut' (meaning, survival) - founded by Dennis Hanover.
In 1995 'Gadi Kenpo Jitsu' – Founded by Gadi Skornik was also approved as an authentic Israeli martial art.
Why Did the Sport Authority Stopped the Accreditation Processes?
In spite of the fact that a private lawsuit, filed against the Sport Authority, claiming that the criterions used to evaluate new Israeli martial arts were discriminating, was declined by the Supreme Court. The Israeli Sport Authority decided not to continue with this process of granting recognition to new Israeli martial styles.
Krav-Maga Trademark
The Israeli ministry of justice, commented regarding to the registration of the 'Krav-Maga Israeli' trademark that: 'Registration of this mark shall give no right to the exclusive use of the words ISRAELI KRAV MAGA ASSOCIATION and the letters K, M, but in the combination and form appearing in the mark.
This led to a situation that any person could use the words 'Krav-Maga Israeli' as long as he doesn't use it with the specific trademark.
A similar thing happened with the style developed by Dennis Hanover, 'Hisardut'. The word 'Hisardut' in Hebrew, translates very simply to the English word 'survival'. One cannot register a trademark on a common word, so once the 'Hisardut' style became popular, many martial artists claimed they teach 'Hisardut', when actually, they had no connection to the original creation. The founder Dennis Hanover, changed the name of his style to 'Denis Hisardut', but that was already too late.
Gadi Skornik, who was the last to register a martial art with the ministry of sport, picked from the beginning the name 'Gadi Kenpo Jitsu', to differ his style from other Kenpo styles.
Who Can Accredit Styles Today?
As said, the Israeli ministry of sport, decided not to continue with this process of martial arts accreditation, mostly in our opinion due to negative public response, legal issues and because the criteria they used was mostly administrative and not professional. Today, the only entity in Israel who acts professionally and without any bias to approve martial arts styles is us, Israel Martial Arts.
This process involves both professional and administrative aspects, which are examined thoroughly by members of our steering committee.