IDF Training combats hate crime in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia - July 24, 2014 - PRLog -- Melbourne, Australia

Wednesday 24th July, 2014

Tensions are high in many communities worldwide due to the current situation between Israel and Hamas with at least one anti-semitic attack on a local Jewish man in Caulfield, Melbourne as well as anti-semitic slurs and chants at pro-palestinian rallies held in the Melbourne CBD.

Avraham Yemini, founder of the largest Krav Maga gym in Australia, says he has received a significant spike in calls and emails from community members wanting to know how they can easily learn to protect themselves.

An Australian-born, ex-Israeli army soldier who spent most of his volunteer service in the Gaza Strip, Avraham Yemini founded the Krav Maga gym, IDF Training, in Caulfield as a way to make the self-defence techniques he learnt in the army, accessible to regular people of all walks of life.

Avraham says, “Krav Maga which is the official self defence system of the Israeli Army was originally created to combat anti-semitic violence on the streets back in the early 1900s. It seems crazy that anti-semitic slurs were openly chanted and an Israeli flag stomped on at a pro-palestinian rally in 2014. This combined with the recent anti-semitic attack on a Jewish man here in Caulfield, obviously make our community nervous. Rather than pretend it’s not happening, which has gotten Jews nowhere in the past, I’d rather do what we can to help people feel safe and empowered to protect themselves if necessary.”

In response to the spike in interest, IDF Training will host a free one off self defence workshop on Sunday 3rd August 2014 from 10 am - 11.30 am in which the victim of the attack, Zachary Gomo, will describe what happened to him and Krav Maga Instructor Benji Szafran will give a breakdown of a variety of techniques to escape this and similar attacks. A Q and A session will follow.

The Herald Sun reported the anti-semitic attack on the 13th July 2014 and Nina Bassat, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, was quoted as saying “This was an act of cowardice and aggression that has no place in our society. From past experience it is clear that it is no coincidence that this attack occurred as hostilities between Israel and Gaza are escalating.”

On the day donations will be collected for Friends Of The IDF, a charity organization in Israel that initiates and helps support educational, social, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for the young men and women soldiers who defend Israel. FIDF also supports the families of fallen soldiers.

Avraham Yemini is the founder of IDF Training (http://www.idftraining.com.au/), a Krav Maga gym located in Caulfield, Melbourne that teaches classes, private sessions and workshops, for children as well as men and women.

He has also created an online Krav Maga video series (http://www.kravmagaonline.com) that makes the entire Krav Maga syllabus available to those who can’t attend classes or training in person.