Knife Threat Counter Escape
BY MOSHE KATZ 
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL

January 25, 2026, Palermo, Italy

Knife threats are a very serious matter. It is not a game. Now that should be obvious, but as my cousin Susan, may she rest in peace, said years ago, Moshe you have a knack for stating the obvious. Let us think about that. 

Yes, sometimes I state the obvious, but that is important, because sometimes the obvious turns out not to be so obvious. 

Now allow me to share another personal anecdote which sheds light on how I approach matters and how I teach. Hebrew Academy of Miami, Florida. I am 17 years old, the coach is giving us direction for the football play, Kenny go long, Josh cut short, Joel...Moshe...Gary, etc. And then I, who did not grow up playing this American game in Israel, repeated, So coach, what you are telling is that when Kenny runs this way, Josh is meant to run that way...etc.

The coach turns to one of the other players and asks, is this guy stupid?

Another player answers, no, he is not, in fact he is one of the top Talmud students in the school, he is just very thorough and wants to make sure he understands the topic before moving on. 

I have analyzed knife threats and real-life situations for years; I have seen how students react. I have seen how Victims in real cases react. The results are not good. When we compare the fancy knife disarms techniques we see from martial arts schools, including schools using the name "Krav Maga", we see a huge gap between reality and what is being taught. In the dojos we see clever hand tricks, fancy moves, and impressive disarms with the Aggressor ending up on the ground in a joint lock. But on the street, in the real world, we see the Victim panicking, being taking hostage, being robbed or raped. These are two different worlds, and saying "Well she just needs to train harder, longer" is utter nonsense and stupidity. We cannot expect everyone to be lifelong full time devotees of martial arts. People have lives to live.

Our system is designed for people who have lives to live, school, family, worship and study. You are not expected to devote hours a day to training over a period of many years. In a few days you can learn the basics and survive, Proven!! I have been doing this for years and have seen the results. Survival. As we say in Israel Baduk! This is a proven and verifiable fact. 

So let us now separate fact from fantasy. 

In the movies, on YouTube, at martial arts demonstrations where, as the song says, "everyone knows their part", yes, impressive disarms. In reality, never. I have never in my entire life, heard, seen, witnessed, or found a video where a knife disarm took place. As Danny Innosanto wisely said, "Knife disarms are incidental if not accidental."  What this means is, incidental, not important, of minor importance, a side effect, or, accidental, it can happen in the course of a defense that an Attacker will drop the knife, this happened, thankfully, with my nephews, but it was not an actual knife disarm, it was an accidental, unplanned result of fighting back. 

So what can we do? What is our approach?

My approach is built upon the solid rock foundation of those I have been privileged to learn from, there will be no Sleight of Hand, quick wrist movements, no. We avoid the knife at all costs. We never, ever approach the knife, We never chase after someone with a knife. Years ago, Itay told me, throw something at him, a rock a chair, but never move towards a person with a knife. Richard Ryan said, "A man with a knife is your physical superior", i.e ANY man with a knife, small, short, skinny, fat, untrained, he has a knife, he is your physical superior. Your black belt does not matter. Respect the Knife, stay away, Do not enter the zone of a person with a knife, man or woman. Is that clear? Am I stating the obvious cousin Susan? Sadly it is not so obvious such as common sense is not so common.  

Our approach at IKI, and our techniques, our solutions, have evolved greatly over the years. Our emphasis now is on creating distance as quickly as possible. I am not going to teach any techniques here, for that you will have to come to class, a seminar, or sign up for our Krav Maga Online program, but I will give the basic concept. 

In the past when a knife was placed against our throats, we would raise up our arms in feint compliance, Hey Man, I mean no harm, just tell me what you want, and then, Quick as a bunny, fast as grease lightening, we would grab the criminals' wrist and do a swift disarm. We would then use the knife, still in his hand, against him to stab him, usually in the ribs, or slash his throat. By the way, that is illegal and considered immoral in most countries, i.e. you disarmed him, he is no longer a threat and now you stab or slash him, but I will leave that for now. 

Over the years I dropped that approach for several reasons. First, do you really think that your little acting skit will convince this criminal? He is the more experienced man here, not you. Your amatuer acting will not win you an Oscar, and in this case will not save your life. He sees right through it. How do I know? Because this is what he does for a living. He lives by the knife, this is his daily occupation, you? You take a Krav Maga class twice a week, on a good week, you have probably never faced a real criminal before. Who is more experienced here? Who is going to win this encounter? Hint: Not you. 

To think that you can disarm him with your amateur acting and then disarm him physically with your joint lock, grab etc. knife disarm, is highly delusional. This is a fantasy created by the martial arts and movie industries. 

Second, his knife is already on your throat, I like to call that the Finish Line, and yet where are your arms? They are far far away. They are by your side, in your pockets, behind your back. For you to do any sort of defense you need to first bring your arms to the battlefield, to the race. It is like a race where one runner is at the finish line while the other is still tying his shoelaces. You will lose this race before it even starts, or in this case, he will slash your throat without any hesitation while you are in the process of bringing your hands from the side of your body, or wherever they are at the moment, to your neck. 

Third, even if you were to bring your hands up to meet his knife at your throat, the struggle would be way too close to your delicate throat. That is like having a war in your backyard, too close to home, too close for comfort. He will not give up without a fight, that fight is taking place with a sharp blade in front of your neck. Not a good idea, at all. 

Any defense you might contemplate would involve Speed, Precision, and Strength, we have already explained many times, again the Obvious, why those Three Amigos are totally unreliable for real self-defense. 

Thus, our choice is to create distance and get away as far and as fast as possible.

Over the years, at seminars, the same question came up again and again, but the Attacker still has the knife? Would it not be better to disarm him?

I answer the same always, the disarm, as we explained, is not a reality. Any attempted disarms I have ever seen resulted in the death of the person attempting them, lying in a pool of their own blood. Now it is true that the Attacker is still alive, and it is true that he still has a knife in his hand, and it is also true that there are people in the world with cancer, suffering poverty, and hungry. What do I mean by this?

What I mean is quite simply, you have not solved all the problems of the world. There is still global poverty, etc. But you have solved one problem, a big one, there is no longer a knife on your throat, you are no longer a split second away from having your throat slit. And I ask the following question: When was your life better? when the knife was on your throat, the blade ready to slice, or now that you are a few feet, meters, away and there is a man in the distane dancing around with a knife in his hand? Where would you rather be?

The answer is obviously, in the second situation, the one where you are a few meters, or feet, away. Here you are more likely to survive. 

Why? Why are you more likely to survive? 

First, in-depth research has shown that if one shows a successful defense, retreat, the Attacker is far less likely to pursue them, unless it is personal. In other words, you have shown that you are not an easy victim, you have successfully defended yourself and escaped, why risk attacking such a person? The criminal is not looking for a fight, he is looking for an easy victim, you have proven that you are not an easy victim. 

Next, now, even if he chooses to go from a Knife Threat to a knife attack, you have already gained some advantages. You have totally taken away the element of surprise, and if you are trained, you can prepare to defend against a knife attack, you can now see it coming. If you are not trained, you at least have distance and a better chance of running away.

Next, if this is a public area you can escape and disappear into the crowd, or hop on a bus and get away. Your chances of survival are certainly better than having a sharp blade on your throat, moments away from being sliced.

Now here is a question that came up - My best chance for disarming the attacker and neutralizing him/her is now, when the blade is on my neck. Once I create distance I will be too far away to disarm or harm him. Why not go for the disarm now?

But let me add to this question before responding, 

What if I cannot run very far, what if the Intended Victim is fat, slow, bad legs etc, cannot move so fast, or if there is no place to run? What then?

The answer

First, I firmly believe, as stated before, that an attempt at a knife disarm will result in a brutal death. I demonstrated this at many seminars to skeptics. You try and take the knife away from me, I slice you to bits and pieces in mere seconds. It Will Not Happen. Simple. So any alternative is preferred. 

The attacker has the knife and he fully intends to keep it. A knife is more difficult to disarm than a gun. A knife cuts both coming and going, up and down, you do not need to pull a trigger or even aim. 

I understand the fear, a person has a knife at your throat, they want something, perhaps your body, you will not allow this. You want to take that threat away. Running away only postpones the inevitable conflict, so why not act now when you have the knife close to you?

As I said your hands are at your side, that is natural, it will take you time to bring your hands up, he will not wait, by the time your hands enter the battlefield, it will all be over, he is no fool, he sees your hands; he slices. He will not listen to your dribble about Hey man I mean no harm blah blah yada yada. Slice Slice. 

But yes, he might come after you, yes, he might be angry, and yes, you might be slow on foot, so what can you do?
I will admit, this is bad. No easy way out, however, if you train and learn some basic knife defenses your chances to survive improve drastically.

There are various circumstances, are you in a public place, then block, and even if you cannot run you can mingle in a crowd. If you are in a private place, find something to throw at him, use a book to block, find a cane, a broom, something. My point is that when he approaches you, and he, the criminal with greater experience, puts a knife to your throat while you are unprepared, with your hands by your side, far from the scene of the crime, you will not have any opportunity to disarm him. You are facing every possible disadvantage. Simple physics dictates that you have zero to little chance. Creating distance, while perhaps not always perfect for everyone, does afford us our greatest chance of survival.

Now come and train. 

I wish to add a comment by one of our instructors. Her name is Tonya, a single mom, petite, would appear to be an easy victim. That would be a mistake. She added the following words, echoing my own thoughts but adding valuable words, which I intended to use in my own classes. The attacker does not have an Alternative plan, but he can have an Alternative Victim. In other words, when you defend yourself and create some distance, he does not have another plan up his sleeve. His knife threat failed, you did not back down. You did not give up. But he can choose another victim, another target. So why would he stick to you? Unless, it is one of those cases where it is peronsal, which I already discussed above. She also points out that his confidence is shaken, perhaps even shattered. His confidence was based on this knife, and now you negated it. Yes, you slapped it and got away. And yes, he still has the knife but his confidence in that knife is greatly reduced. 

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Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt Hall of fame, USA and Europe.

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