Mike Lee Kanarek shows weapons defense
HaganaH, the evolution of Israeli Martial Arts. Mike Lee Kanarek will explain to you what HaganaH is when you walk in to his school.
Forty one year old Mike Lee Kanarek was originally born in Saigon, Vietnam. His mother was Vietnamese and his father was an American soldier fighting in the War. Because of his half breed status, Kanarek was not accepted, so he was given up for adoption. Kanarek was adopted by a Jewish family and raised in Belgium. He lived in Brussels until he was ten years old, when he and his family moved to Israel.
Kanarek was six years old when he started taking up the martial arts. He first learned judo, but when he moved to Israel there was no one who taught judo, so he took karate. He was also introduced to the Israeli martial art system known as Krav Maga. He later on entered the the Israeli military where he received combat training.
Kanarek explained to me that HaganaH is more of a military system than a martial art system, but it falls into the martial arts category because the training people get in self defense and street application.
Kanarek’s mentor in the martial arts was none other than the former World Heavy weight Kickboxing Champion Joe Lewis. Joe has been credited as one of a few people who brought us full-contact karate. Joe Lewis was one of the reasons Kanarek came to America. He has trained with Lewis for over seventeen years.
Because of his military and special forces background, Kanarek views martial arts at an intelligence gathering level.
“Any military person will tell you that intelligence gathering is the key element to the success of a mission. I view martial arts at an intelligence gathering level.”
Kanarek’s example is when he wanted to have good hands, he went to Joe Lewis for training. When he wanted to learn grappling, he went to the Machado Brothers to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
” I always go to the source of the puzzle for my training. I don’t believe one style is the best and the answer to every thing. There are a lot of people who know different styles but don’t use them correctly. For instance some people will start out with there hands and box only. They pull out and then they do kicking only. They don’t know how to meshed styles together. They have the lack of what I call combat I.Q”.
“When a lot of people get into a fight most of the time they will start with their hands and box only. They pull out and then kick only. They don’t know how to mesh things together. Because I am a military person I look at things at what I call a combat IQ.”
Kanarek looks at everything as a combat application and believes that most of the time the best opening in a fight is the transition from one range to another. Kanarek’s mentality is on a tactical level. He doesn’t want to fight your fight. He wants to find a gap in your fight and capitalize on it, then fight you with something else.
Kanarek credits his old Karate instructor for opening his eyes and teaching him street application. His instructor was the first one who gave him scenario based awareness. He would preach how dojo training was sport training, but street fighting was a whole different story. Street fighting has the element called “Surviving the Ambush”. Kanarek has respect for UFC fighters, Muay Thai fighters, etc.
“You can be a world champion in a combat sport and lose a street fight to a punk. The punk will use strategies such as the element of surprise and improvised weapons. To be a combat athlete is one thing. To be street efficient is another.”
Kanarek explained to me how in Israel to be efficient is the key to survival. In Israel there are Israelis, Arabs, and unfortunately terrorists. Everyone is in one big salad. Attacks happen in a blink of an eye. Will your “Karate Dojo” training work for that? Most of the time the answer is no.
HaganaH is the Hebrew word for defense. HaganaH was originally the name of a military unit that Kanarek’s adopted father served in. He calls his system HaganaH in tribute to all the soldiers who fought for the freedom of Israel. Kanarek served in the Golani Brigade, the most notorious fighting brigade in the Israeli army. He has had first hand experience using his system.
HaganaH is a pretty comprehensive system. It consists of self defense, fitness and conditioning, hand to hand methods and hand vs knife and gun. It has tactical knife fighting, combat shooting and a set of hand to hand and weapon based tactics for law enforcement and military operations.
The majority of Kanarek’s students are thirty to forty-five. They train in what he likes to call combat fitness.
I asked Kanarek what were his future plans? At the moment, because of the high demand from law enforcement and the public, as well to teach HaganaH, Kanarek is trying to control the big wave that has come in. The growth has come in faster than anticipated. Once the growth is controlled Kanarek will concentrate on the future.
The turning point for Kanarek’s career was Sept 11. When he first came to America he was trying to teach HaganaH but there weren’t many people interested in the art. The people thought it was too violent.
“The American people were not ready for it.”
Instead Kanarek taught TKD, Muay Thai and KickBoxing for eleven years. After that fatal day, every federal agency in south Florida was knocking on Kanarek’s door. That’s when Kanarek knew that the public was ready to get introduced to HaganaH, “The reality based martial art.”
Kanarek considers himself the new kid on the block. The two big kids on the block are traditional martial arts and mixed martial arts. Today reality based
martial arts is the third kid on the block and it’s a block that’s growing and growing.
According to Kanarek, only one percent of the public in the United States take up martial arts. He believes most people have a misrepresentation of what martial arts is. They see movies like the Karate Kid and thats not what martial arts is about. If the public would open their eyes they would see the benefits of martial arts.
” At the end of the day one percent of Americans practice martial arts. In Israel it’s eighty five percent. In Israel martial arts is mandatory in the school system. Martial arts is not only a way of life in Israel, it’s a way of survival.”
It was a culture shock to Kanarek, when he first moved to the United States and saw the amount of people who took up Martial Arts. He believes if people were more aware of the good things martial arts can do, more people would get involved.
Kanarek will be hosting the 4th Annual HaganaH Conference January 16-18, 2009 at the Sheraton Suites Plantation in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Besides Mike Lee Kanarek, the featured Perennial instructors of the conference will be Senior HaganaH instructor and HaganaH black belt/Head of F.I.T.2FIGHT James Cooper. Hollywood S.W.A.T, Combat Wrestling Advisor to HaganaH John Clark. This year’s guest instructor will be Machado/BJJ Jiu Jitsu 3rd Degree black belt, ground fighting expert Marcos Santos.
If you would like to learn more about Mike Lee Kanarek or HaganaH you can visit him at his facility at 11850 West State Road 84 Suite A-4 Davie, FL 33325. (954)475-2333 or log onto www.fight2survive.com .
Hector Feliciano is the founder and Editor of the Martial Arts Times. A fighting enthusiast, He looks forward to sharing his experiences with readers and interacting in the wonderful world of Martial Arts. 
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