What is Kapap (קפא"פ, קפ"פ)
Kapap (קפא"פ, קפ"פ), often written KAPAP is a Hebrew acronym for Krav Panim el Panim. This translates into face to face combat. Modern day Kapap is a close-quarter battle system of defensive tactics, hand-to-hand combat and self-defence and has highly evolved from its historical counterpart and many of its concepts. This allows modern day civilians and service men and women to remain safe while in the line of duty enabeling them to defend against modern threats.
Kapap today is mainly adopted by specialist military and police units that are required to do specialist or different jobs. The reason Kapap is used by specialist units is because it is not technique based like Krav Maga it is based around a set of principles that enables practitioners to adapt the system to the need of the mission or threat that has presented itself to them.
In the current day Krav maga is the most well-known Israeli martial art but it is not the only Israeli system. Kapap was being used in the 1920’s by the Jewish resistance group Haganah previously known as the Palmach. The Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organisation which during WW1 was ran by the Zion mule corps and the Jewish Legion, both these groups were part of the British army. After the Arab riots against the jews in 1920 the Yishuv (Jewish community) leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defence organisation and the Haganah was created in June of the same year.
The Haganah was operational between 1921 and 1948. Kapap in the early days of its use was a stick fighting system along with jujitsu, judo, boxing, knife and stone throwing. The original stick fighting system that the Haganah used was the short stick fighting system which incorporated a short stick that could be concealed in the sleeve until a fight took place. That was later replaced by the Walking stick system.
During the 1950’s the term Kapap was used interchangeably with the term Krav Maga, this was due to Imi lichtenfelds involvement in the IDF's combat training. As time went on the term Kapap was only used in the specialist units of the IDF or police force such as Unit 216 Sayeret Matkal (IDF) and the Yamam (police). These units required skill sets that suited there need which were more than just striking and neutralising techniques.
Modern day Kapap is still based around principles rather than techniques but is very different to the Kapap of old. This is due to its use within the specialist units that it has evolved and become what it is today. The main contributors to modern day Kapap that has helped it evolve and become such an adaptable system are Lieutenant Colonel(Res) Chaim Pe’er who is the President and founder of the International Kapap Federation, he is recognised internationally as a Soke and the founder of the modern day Kapap system.
(For a more in depth history of Kapap, information by author and historian Noah Gross can be found on the Global Kapap Network Website.)