SJP Demands Local Y Stop Offering Krav Maga Course

Because of its Israeli pedigree, opponents of Israel’s existence and policies who study at the Urbana-Champaign campus have seized on it as a target of their pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Chicago, October 31 – A chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is calling for a local community center to cancel its plans to give instruction in an Israeli-developed martial art, with the claim that offering the course legitimizes Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

SJP activists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign held a protest this morning outside the city’s Young Men’s/Women’s Christian Association, (YM/YWCA) in response to a notice on the Y’s website and Facebook Page that registration for a Krav Maga course had commenced, with instruction to begin in two weeks. Eighteen demonstrators attempted to block the entrance to the facility, and engaged in vociferous exchanges with staff and visitors. The protest disbanded before police arrived to break it up.

Krav Maga, or “contact combat,” originated with a Czechoslovakian Jew who adapted boxing, wrestling, and martial arts principles in the 1930’s to help defend Jews in Bratislava from antisemitic thugs. He further adapted the form to the needs of combat soldiers in the nascent IDF in the 1940’s, and he and his associates continued to refine and teach it through the ensuing decades. Krav Maga eventually became a feature of hand-to-hand combat training in police and military forces around the world, and is offered to private citizens seeking to augment their personal safety. Because of its Israeli pedigree, opponents of Israel’s existence and policies who study at the Urbana-Champaign campus have seized on it as a target of their pro-Palestinian advocacy.

“Stop enabling war crimes!” read one of the posters at the demonstration. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” they chanted.

Protest organizer Suha Emwazi, chapter president of SJP, told reporters that for the Y to offer the course was a dangerous step toward condoning oppression of Palestinians. “It’s all about raising awareness and promoting sensitivity,” she explained, physically blocking the wheelchair ramp where a visitor was trying to gain entrance so she could use the facility’s swimming pool. “Not many people know where Krav Maga comes from, and once they do know, we can hope they will exercise their judgment properly and find some alternative fitness or self-defense regimen.”

Protest participant Jake Muir, also a member of SJP, highlighted the diversity of the demonstrators. “We are all different,” he boasted, pointing to the sixteen Muslims, one avowed atheist, and one cultural Jew. “A variegated cross-section of our society demands an adoption of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions policy when it comes to Israeli products and institutions, and we are here to voice that growing demand.”

A receptionist at the Y told journalists that the scheduled instructor for the course was a US Marine who had gained certification in Krav Maga while serving in the Corps. She was unable to divulge the ethnic or religious identities of any registered course participants from the dominantly Protestant neighborhood.