Fightworld (2018) s01e05 Episode Script
Israel: Masters of War
Israel.
Fighting here means something different.
Fights are not won by knockout or submission.
There are no decisions on points.
In the Middle East, fighting is about preservation preservation of your beliefs, of your land, of your people.
Entire cultures here are based around conflict, around combat.
Fighting here is a way of life.
The instructions of the London police in case of a terror attack is run, hide and tell.
- America, same thing.
- You know what it is in Israel? One word fight.
There are states that excel in cheeses, making wine.
We need to excel in fighters.
That is what is unique about Krav Maga.
It is a very uniquely Israeli approach that fits our character, our location, our enemies.
In the broader view, Krav Maga is every type of hand-to-hand combat.
Krav Maga is something simple, short and capable.
Period.
Not nice movement practical movement.
It is sharp.
Simple.
That's it.
I use Krav to become an attack dog, aggressive and instinctive.
Fast.
No time to play.
You play, you die.
This is the life.
Self-defense should be suitable for everybody and the original place for Krav Maga is here in Israel.
It's an Israeli method of hand-to-hand combat.
But it's not established and nobody know about it nothing before.
In Israel, it's got a name.
But I think that, naturally, it was always there in every type of culture.
Today, fighting in the world is all about MMA and go into the ring and proving you're better.
This is not real fighting.
Real fighting is knowing maybe it's a good time to close your windows in the car and then lock the door.
That's fighting.
That's real fighting and preservation.
Sometimes it's better to give up on your ego and get back home safe.
There are two problems ego and politics.
Israel is surrounded by 23 countries, 500 million people who are politically, ideologically and religiously opposed to Israel as a state.
There is coexistence with some, tension with many.
This is Israel, Tel Aviv and the holy city, Jerusalem.
This border, this is Lebanon.
And now what you hear about Hezbollah, they are here.
Over here is Syria.
This is Jordan.
This whole thing is Jordan? This is Jordan.
Over here is Egypt.
- Right.
- This is Gaza.
And this is what you call - Over here, the West Bank.
- The West Bank.
Now, all this I want you to understand.
People think, you know, you hear so much about Israel that people think this is America.
This This is 30 km.
- That's all it is? - That's all it is.
- This is the country that God wanted.
- Right.
He didn't make Jerusalem just like that.
He made Jerusalem because he wanted Jerusalem here, not anywhere else.
Right.
That's a good point! He didn't put Jerusalem in New Jersey.
Do you think, after all, do you think there'll be a day when what you do won't be as necessary? Do you ever think that day will come in our lifetimes? I'll tell you something.
My mother when I was a kid, she told me, "You know what? When you grow up and you become 18," you know, every boy over here goes into the army, "I pray that you don't go to the army.
" With God's help, I hope it happens.
Let's say if there's peace, gladly I'll put down the weapons and will find something else.
- We'll all go sell cars.
- Right.
But to be realistic, I don't think it's the situation.
Jerusalem is more than 2,000 years old.
It's been attacked over 50 times, and three different religions consider this city holy ground.
Politically, the fight for Jerusalem is a hot-button topic around the world.
In a region where so many religions, countries and faiths intersect, peaceful solutions aren't always easy to come by.
Tell me the greatest challenges that you face as the mayor in what is arguably the holiest place in the world.
In one square kilometer right there in the Old City, we have more synagogues, mosques and churches than anywhere in the world, functioning for the benefit of so many different constituencies.
And so the challenge is, how do you live together? Not one on the account of the other, but one side-by-side to each other.
Naturally, the majority of the people want to live peacefully, want to respect each other.
But sometimes you have people that want to destroy that peace.
So that's the biggest challenge, naturally, we have.
Now, on average, the number of people getting hurt in our case is very negligible, or relatively small relative to what you see - in the United States and in Europe.
- Right.
So the fact that you can engage means that you know that sometimes you're risking your life for the benefit of your community and your people.
But it's part of the DNA and the culture.
Mutual commitment, mutual responsibility between the different people.
Naturally, we prefer to live peacefully and create relationships and cooperation.
- Right.
- But we know how to fight.
In Israel, if you're talking about fighting, you're talking Krav Maga.
This is not a sport.
It's not healthy.
It's not healthy for me.
It's not healthy for the public, for the environment.
Okay, I'm learning over here something basically helping me to kill someone.
- Okay? - That's Krav Maga.
That is Krav Maga.
It's a weapon.
It's a loaded weapon.
If you are just going to learn to use this body as a weapon, you're gonna be protected.
So, first of all, we learn never go back.
- First rule.
- You don't move back? Never back.
First rule never back.
Second rule not only protection.
Don't stay behind cover.
So you must get into a cover, but be effective behind that cover.
Okay, put your hands over here.
- Here? - Your hand on my cheek.
- Okay, I'm moving forward.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Now, who are you? A friend from the neighborhood? - Yes, I'm a friend - Perfect.
Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Try to take your hand back.
- Calm down! - I'm good.
- You understand the message? - Yeah.
Okay.
Now let's change you a little bit.
You're not a friend from the neighborhood.
- Right.
- Okay? You are a terrorist.
- You are a terrorist.
- Right.
The gun is sterilized.
You can feel safe.
Okay.
Now, let's flow with this.
Okay, what I just did? - You - First of all, you have no more elbow.
- Right.
- Okay.
Third your face in a second is gonna be on the floor.
Oh! Okay? Now, I'm very easy with you, by the way.
- Of course.
- Okay, and from now on, I don't have any interest to release you out.
- Right.
- Okay.
But, anyway, you're gonna get shot in two seconds.
From here So there is no reason for you to continue to fight.
- I'm not a police officer.
- Right.
I'm not gonna arrest you.
I have no handcuffs.
The first thing I want to get is to the deadly weapon as fast as I can.
If you're gonna stand there, no impact.
Sir, put your weapon down! That's it.
Leave the bullshit.
Sir, put your weapon down.
If it's coming in here, I have no time to respond with my weapon.
First, respond Krav Maga.
Denied it.
Boom.
Get to the weapon.
Weapon sterilize.
Continue the fight till you're going to kill the person.
- Now, you do the Thai boxing, right? - Yeah.
So part of Krav Maga is also learn how to get hit.
- How to get hit? - How to get hit.
- Right.
- Okay.
Show me your middle kick, ribs.
Oh, do you want me to kick Yeah, I want to feel your Okay, trying not to get hurt.
- Yeah.
- Okay, try to get in here.
- A little bit stronger.
- Yeah? It makes me scared.
A little bit stronger.
- Wow! - A little bit.
Try.
Try to hurt.
Come on.
Go for it, brother.
Come on! Go for it.
Come on, you're playing with me.
No, I can't kick him any harder than that! - Go for it.
- Jesus Christ! Go for it.
Come on! You're going to hurt yourself.
That is the idea of learn to get hit.
Now, how I'm doing it? I'm not different from you.
I'm not stronger than you.
Yes, you are.
- No.
- Yes, you are! Physically, no.
Physically, I have no clue who is stronger between us.
- Right.
- I don't care about it.
I'm trying to be stronger than you in here because there's no ring, there's no judge, and there's no crowd who's watching and give me, "Hey, good!" Okay? While I'm gonna kick you, you're not going to hear Okay, you're gonna hear God next to you.
That's what I'm trying to do.
Okay? And the second there is a combat, that's it.
Boom! The bits goes out.
So yes, I'm going to break a rib.
I'm gonna break my chin, I'm gonna break my nose, but I'm gonna continue to fight.
What's going to hold me on the ground, it's my adrenaline and how determined I am to see my daughters in the end of the day.
Okay, when I'm fighting, I see my wife, my daughter at home, sitting and waiting for me, and I'm gonna be there.
That's your responsibility.
That's right.
- That is the idea.
- That's right.
Now, we're not talking about this, okay? Take it.
- Cock the gun.
- Right.
Don't worry about it.
Cock the gun.
Perfect.
Now, what do you want? I'm unarmed.
You're armed.
What do you want? You want to shoot? You're gonna shoot.
That's it.
I had nothing to do with this.
Okay? Here is psychology of the combat.
Okay? You got a gun.
Choose the action.
What do you want? You are the actor right now.
Yeah, create the scenario.
Your money! - Sir, what do you want? - Your money! It's here! Okay, try to pull the trigger.
Try to pull the trigger.
It's not going.
The handgun And go back.
What I just did? Cock the gun.
Put the finger on the trigger.
- Sir, what do you want? - Money! Okay, it's right here.
I'm taking your eyes from me.
Now, what do you see? What I'm doing? I'm afraid, right? No, I'm in a way of combat.
- I'm in a body position.
- Right.
Okay, now, what I'm trying to do is to stay as close as I can.
Why? At a second, I'm here.
I have nothing to do with this.
Okay, if I'm gonna take the decision to give you your money, if I'm gonna be in Venezuela right now, I'm gonna take my wallet "Just take it and leave.
" Okay, I'm not gonna get into it.
But if I'm in Israel, he don't want my money.
He wants to push me into the car to get me to the Gaza Strip and to start negotiations with the government.
That's going to take five years if I'm gonna see my family anymore.
I'm going to go for all of it at a second.
If I'm gonna get shot, it doesn't matter.
Sooner or later, I'm going to die.
Okay? So, "What do you want?" Handgun is sterilized.
I've got a gun.
Even you're ready for that, you didn't know how to get over it.
What I'm using, my reflexes and your reflexes at a time.
Look how I did it.
I'm getting closer.
"Okay, here's my money.
" I pulled my eyes.
- Your eyes.
It's happened again.
- Right.
Weapon is sterilized.
Any weapon with a magazine in the world, you're going to pull the slide back.
That's it, the weapon's sterilized.
You cannot shoot.
You're jammed.
Now, I'm using this.
Try to hold it strong.
It's going out.
Now, I'm going to open the distance.
I want to shoot Kill whenever I want.
- That is the idea.
Yeah.
- That's I don't even know what You're a machine.
I mean, you are.
You're a machine.
It's like It's intimidating.
There's no way to get through to you.
I mean, to kick you, to There is a way.
There is a way.
- I have something to lose.
- Right.
You're going to take the hope from me, that's it.
You opened the door.
Okay? What is holding us over here, and the Krav Maga came from that, - it's a hope.
- Right.
The hope of the promised.
And what happened 75 years ago, that we promised Never again.
So I prefer to be a dead lion from a live dog.
- Right.
- Okay? Maybe it sounds crazy, but this is my beliefs.
- Okay? That is my agenda.
- Yeah.
Now, what represents a human being over here, of course it's freedom, love, life, democracy.
But from the other side, if somebody going to come to hurt me, to keep my promise to my great-grandfather who didn't succeed to see that land, those walls and me, as a great-grandchild of him, I'm going to make a justice with any bastard who can lay his finger on one of my friends, my family or the citizens and the civilians of my country.
You know what you didn't mention, which I find amazing.
You didn't mention that it had to be a Jewish friend.
It's not about just being Jewish.
- No.
- It's not.
I don't care about your religious beliefs.
Look, that is a storage.
Your body is a storage of your soul.
There is a very famous doctor, Islamic doctor.
Her name is Wafa Sultan.
She said once you can believe in the sun, but don't burn me with that sun.
You can believe in a rock, but don't throw that rock on me.
- Right.
- Okay? Now, to say I'm ready to die for my country, not because I represent death.
- Because I represent freedom.
- Right.
Like I told you before, I prefer to be a dead lion from a live dog.
Never again.
It means never again to bend my head, to take my eyes down when I see somebody he think is better than me, because nobody better than me and I'm not better than anybody.
What we're going to do, we're going to head down from the Jaffa Gate area, we're going to walk towards the Western Wall.
We're going to head down, in fact, one of the most sensitive areas across the country.
In each one of the different quarters, you have significant sites.
And, of course, you have the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and the Church of the Sepulchre and the Israeli National Police are in charge and responsible for making sure that Jerusalem is safe and those three different areas are safe.
The training that these officers must go through, is it high-level close-quarter martial art, Krav Maga? Is it all of that combined? All of our officers go through basic training at the National Police Academy.
And how many officers are inside the Old City? In the Old City, we have more than 600 officers patrolling in and around the different areas.
The Israeli National Police work together with different units all over the world in order to share our knowledge, our tactics, whether it's in Krav Maga, fighting at close range, whether it's responding in order to deal with terrorist incidents.
You know, we've gone to so many places around the world dealing with the fighter's life and, you know, the difference being that these guys get on a mat or in a cage or in a ring and when you're fighting, it's your occupation.
You're not gonna die, do you know what I mean? Yeah.
It's tactical, it's high-level, there's conditioning involved, but at the end of the day, you're leaving the cage - and you're gonna go home.
- Exactly.
Maybe a trip to the hospital, but you're gonna go home.
Just by definition of who the Israeli people are, they are All Israeli people are fighters, are warriors.
They all are.
Absolutely.
When you look around, you can see officers here.
These are IDF officers that are, in fact, going through an educational course and they're visiting here, Jerusalem, to be connected to the different sites and the different areas.
They're not on any security patrol, but once again, all of these youngsters at the age of 18, 19 and 20Â are already in the army.
Are those weapons sterilized? Do they No, those are M16s and if there is any incident that happens, they also, according to the orders they are given in the IDF, they have to respond as well, but when you walk around Jerusalem, despite the threats that exist, and there can be a lone terrorist and a lone terrorist can come around from some area, possibly pull out a knife, try and attack someone.
Israel's tremendously safe.
When we walk around, we walk around here in peace and quiet.
My kids walk around here.
My kids go to school in the Old City.
They walk around in the day, in the night.
Nine o'clock in the evening, you'll see children walking around the streets.
Things are safe, things are calm.
I feel safe.
I've been, again, all over the world - and I've felt unsafe in many places.
- Yeah.
I feel safer here right now than I do walking in New York City.
So now we're going to head down the stairs which lead to, in fact, the most holy site and holy place for the Jewish religion.
Yeah.
The Temple Mount area just to the left of us is the third most significant area to the Muslim religion.
And we passed already the Church of the Sepulchre, which is the most significant place to the Christian religion.
So within that 1.
1 square miles, they have the three most significant and important places in the world.
It's really hard to articulate what I'm even seeing.
- It really is.
- Here where we are, just overlooking the area of the Temple Mount, you can see the Western Wall right in front of us.
Our units are fully geared, fully ready to respond to any type of incident on any level because if there were to be an incident that would take place here inside Jerusalem at one of these areas, it would have repercussions not just here in Jerusalem, but across the whole of Israel and possibly across the whole of the Middle East as well.
Mister policeman, mister.
I will put a string on him.
Come.
May the Lord provide, may he provide good fortune, a good life without worries.
Health, success, marriage, a male heir, fortune and good luck.
So, she's giving you a blessing.
She's blessing you.
She wants to touch your head.
You don't have to if you don't want.
Whereas Jerusalem is literally a city divided, Tel Aviv feels like any other cosmopolitan city, but where cultures clash, conflict follows and in the Middle East, fighting isn't for the ring.
Fighting is in the blood.
When you're looking for balance, you're not protecting yourself correctly.
So then I go in.
So it's chess.
Every - Yeah.
- Like, anything.
So you grab my arm If you grab my arm - And you try to pull, right? - I try to pull.
So my basic instinct is My basic instinct when you pull me is to pull back.
But then you go to a more feminine point of view.
So when you pull me, I go in.
You come in.
You close the gap.
- Right, so now I try to come here - You go here.
- Right.
- And I go here.
Right, and then we grapple.
And if it's pure grappling, that's it.
I'm done.
- I'm going to the ground.
- Right.
But then I can - Cut that.
- But how do you defend against that? That's amazing because defense against a knife is one of the great mysteries of fighting.
- It is.
- 'Cause whenever you block a knife - Right.
- The guy cuts you back.
- Yeah.
- On the way back.
So when you work with a knife, you want to always redirect it so that you don't know where your knife is going.
And then there is a simple structure when you go in.
When I focus on disarming a knife, so many things can go wrong and you're an idiot if you think that with a true blade, you're not pissing your pants.
- Yeah.
- That's scary.
So your movements become like a big baboon.
Not like a gentle practitioner of something.
So when you come in, I want to keep it going, right, and then I attack what is holding the knife.
It's not the hand holding the knife.
It's your brain holding the knife.
So when I go to your eyes, your brain has to readjust - and say, "Shit, fuck the knife.
" - So I'm dropping this knife.
Yeah, so I go to the shoulder lock.
But if it doesn't work and you push off or you punch me, I need to react, but where's the knife? - Not in my hand! - Not in your hand anymore.
That's it, man.
That's amazing.
What I do, what I learn and still am learning all the time is bathe in the reality of fighting.
You know, "This didn't work.
This did work.
We're lacking this.
We need this.
" How do I take a guy and control him with an option? Because if I take an elbow and I start locking it and you tap, right, so in a competition, I won, right? But if I do it in reality, I'm your hostage because if I let you go, you're an animal.
- Yeah.
- You're going to kill me.
So the armbar may be good for a brawl in a bar, but if I'm in the middle of a hostile environment, I draw so much attention to myself, it's ridiculous.
You're gonna die.
You're going to die.
- But if I go from here - Yeah.
and I even, you know, just touch your chin on the right spot and you go down and I can continue walking as if nothing happens and it's a crowded place.
- This is fighting.
- So the whole concept of fighting, here more than anywhere else, is that it's not about finishing.
- It's not about ego.
- It's not about ego.
It's not about ego.
It's about survival.
- It's about survival.
- Yeah, that's correct.
And it's a switch in mentality.
That's why a lot of these things don't fit in the ring, and a lot of competitive stuff doesn't fit in reality.
I'm going to tell you something.
So I've been training all different I wrestled my whole life, boxed, jujitsu, everything.
When I've come to Israel I really feel like I don't know what I'm doing because I'm not defending against losing points or I'm defending against my life.
Israeli culture is different.
We don't have this privilege of being "me, me, me, me" all the time.
- No.
- We're not that many people so if I see something, I can't close my eyes to it.
- Ever.
- Ever.
But sometimes and many times, it crosses the culture barrier.
- - Hey.
- Hey.
As a fighter at the highest level, which you are, do you find that you can integrate Muslims, Christians, Jews together when it comes to fighting or is here the one place where you can't do that? Obviously, we can because in my classes, I have everyone.
They train together.
I think that fighting, because of the purity of it, - everything becomes so clear and simple.
- Right.
- You never think about politics anymore.
- Ever.
Because after a training session, everything outwardly seems so small.
Everything is so simple, and it's a real brotherhood.
It gives you hope.
It gives you such hope.
What were you trying to achieve? Are you trying to come loose? Then why do you make it your goal to rip his hands apart? Let him leave them like this.
It couldn't be any better.
Let him keep his hands closed.
 I let him just keep trying as I escape his grip.
Then just punch him in the face, that's it.
It's all just fine.
I don't need to make this excessive effort.
As humans, we have this thing where we can cling onto the thing we feel will challenge us the most.
How many times a day do you try to grab onto something so it won't escape you? How many times? A million? Whenever you have something important, you hold on to it to never let it go.
So what do we have here? It's a conflict of interests.
He wants one thing, and I want something else.
There's a battle of wills between us.
I'm Muslim and proud to be so.
I respect all religions, be it a Christian or Jew.
In training, we treat each other like brothers.
Any other external issues do not matter.
Here, we have nothing but respect and love for one another.
We are a family.
You're allowed to moan and scream, but do not give up.
I live in Jerusalem.
I'm a Christian Arab, and here, this is the place that really is a neutral place.
We don't have something called politics.
This is like my second home.
So it is all connected together.
It is something You know, it is something incredible.
You have this breathing organism of people who seemingly have no connection to each other whatsoever and we're supposed to be adversaries, at least on a civil level.
But, no, they train together and they sweat together, and it's amazing.
You see the love.
Now there is brotherhood.
It's an actual family, and they call each other and call me when we needed them.
So when my wife was hospitalized two years ago with a very serious - It was a disaster.
- Yeah.
All of them all of them were there, not as my students, as my brothers.
And they prayed for me, they prayed for her.
They offered every type of assistance.
Friendships form, you know.
When you work out together, it creates something.
So, automatically, even if we're different people, from different cultures, it just happens.
You suddenly get to know the human in them much better.
And clearly that makes a difference, because then you view others differently, and you learn that they don't view those things different from us, yes, it changes your perspective.
And here, we can see people here are from different cultures, shades of life, and it makes no difference if they're religious-secular, faith, race or gender, all that.
We have them all in this place.
There are human beings, and there is this grand conflict.
It's very important for us to connect through contact and this is what martial arts does.
You have two arms too and one head, yeah, and you feel pain and I feel pain, a heart, and it's beating fast.
And you're sweating, I feel you're sweating.
And what is it about people that after we punch each other in the face, we become the best friends? - Best friends.
- It's crazy, you know? The guys in the UN are sitting and talking.
"What are you talking about? Give them gloves and hit them.
" I think that it's inevitable to go about this in two ways.
One is through education.
If we keep on teaching the younger generation to hate the other side there is never an end to this.
And it doesn't matter what treaty you sign or what lands you swamp, if you're educating for hatred, then you're building with rotten foundations and you can't build peace on rotten foundations.
Eventually, it will collapse, and that hatred will rise again.
I like the martial arts because we're creating a dialogue between each other and I am working with you, it's my responsibility to give you a better training session and your responsibility to give me a better training session.
That education are two, I believe, major pillars of how we can start bridging some of the gaps in order to create a brighter future for our children.
I founded this non-profit organization called Budo For Peace.
Budo is traditional martial arts, all of them together - aikido, karate, judo.
And "For Peace," it's for peace.
We use martial arts ethics in an educational way as a platform for bringing different minority groups and different kids together and as you see here, we have Jewish religious kids.
We have Arab kids.
We have immigrant kids from Ethiopia, and they all come together using martial arts.
I want everyone in partners with somebody you don't know.
There's two main things that if you want to begin to have co-existence that we have to combat and that is ignorance and fear.
Now, once these kids meet First of all, they never get a chance in Israel, really, to meet because they live in different villages.
So by bringing them together, first of all, it breaks down ignorance.
They wear similar clothes, they do the same bowing.
They do similar movements.
The stretching is the same, the breathing is the same so straight away, it brings down ignorance.
Then comes fear.
Now, in martial arts, you see here, okay, you've got to create a safe place, a dojo or a sanctuary, - so you have to build trust.
- And new partner! And that's the bottom line.
If you can respect yourself and others, you can create harmony within yourself.
Then you have the opportunity to have harmony with other people, and I really believe through the kids, from the bottom up, we'll be able to make peace.
The leaders, you know, they take their time, but if the kids can really get to know and trust others, this is the way to go about it.
Jewish people and Muslims, and not only them, everyone in the world can make peace, like there's war between Jewish people and Muslims and now we're here practicing together karate and show them there's nothing impossible.
You need to look deep for it to find peace and happy life.
In Israel and the other countries, they are like, "I am Muslim, you are Jewish.
I hate you.
" Like, in my opinion, we all are human.
We have to love each other.
I don't think it matters if you're Jewish or Muslim or anything else.
Before I got here, I had, like different opinions about the Arabs, you know.
We thought that they're the enemy and stuff like that.
But after I join Budo For Peace, they are like my friends.
I love everyone.
And this is what this country has to give, by the way.
You won't find the best runners, you won't find the best fighters, but you'll find people with a heart that are willing to give for other people.
That's amazing.
There's always threat.
The world emerged from two main powers.
Good and bad.
- Right.
- There's always It's always been.
It's always going to be there.
- I agree.
- Choose the side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Choose where you want to be.
This is my wife.
All of those guys is my friends.
I believe you don't know them.
- L'chaim.
- Thank you so much.
L'chaim.
It's a complete soul search from the inside out and when it's done in the proper environment, with brotherhood and love, and when we go through that together, you mix blood with blood and sweat with sweat and that's it.
You become one.
You become brothers and sisters for life.
And it's fucked up sometimes.
You know, you have politics, and you have some bad people like everybody else, and then you go and you fight and you train together and you know what? Everybody bleeds the same.
Everybody sweats the same and when you feel like shit and puke, you know, it looks the same.
It's just You understand that there is no actual difference between human beings and everybody who fights has to have a reason why.
And I think that in the end, most reasons are the same.
It's the same.
You want to protect yourself and protect the people you love.
And, you know, then you finish a fighting session and everybody dresses up again, and it's different.
There's no hate, and everyone takes this message back home, and bit by bit, we become part of this immunity system.
Within this huge organism, we spread proper ideas that you don't have to be afraid anymore and martial arts and Krav Maga and fighting, it disciplines you.
I view that as a universal thing.
It connects everyone.
We need that.
We need that energy.
We need that cultivation of ourselves.
It's true love.
It's true love.
Between warriors, always it's true love.
Because I saved his life and he saved mine.
Around the world, fighting for what you believe in is truth.
Maybe it's that fight, that instinct to fight, to survive, to protect, more than any difference in faith or culture or color, that has the power to unite.
Fighting here means something different.
Fights are not won by knockout or submission.
There are no decisions on points.
In the Middle East, fighting is about preservation preservation of your beliefs, of your land, of your people.
Entire cultures here are based around conflict, around combat.
Fighting here is a way of life.
The instructions of the London police in case of a terror attack is run, hide and tell.
- America, same thing.
- You know what it is in Israel? One word fight.
There are states that excel in cheeses, making wine.
We need to excel in fighters.
That is what is unique about Krav Maga.
It is a very uniquely Israeli approach that fits our character, our location, our enemies.
In the broader view, Krav Maga is every type of hand-to-hand combat.
Krav Maga is something simple, short and capable.
Period.
Not nice movement practical movement.
It is sharp.
Simple.
That's it.
I use Krav to become an attack dog, aggressive and instinctive.
Fast.
No time to play.
You play, you die.
This is the life.
Self-defense should be suitable for everybody and the original place for Krav Maga is here in Israel.
It's an Israeli method of hand-to-hand combat.
But it's not established and nobody know about it nothing before.
In Israel, it's got a name.
But I think that, naturally, it was always there in every type of culture.
Today, fighting in the world is all about MMA and go into the ring and proving you're better.
This is not real fighting.
Real fighting is knowing maybe it's a good time to close your windows in the car and then lock the door.
That's fighting.
That's real fighting and preservation.
Sometimes it's better to give up on your ego and get back home safe.
There are two problems ego and politics.
Israel is surrounded by 23 countries, 500 million people who are politically, ideologically and religiously opposed to Israel as a state.
There is coexistence with some, tension with many.
This is Israel, Tel Aviv and the holy city, Jerusalem.
This border, this is Lebanon.
And now what you hear about Hezbollah, they are here.
Over here is Syria.
This is Jordan.
This whole thing is Jordan? This is Jordan.
Over here is Egypt.
- Right.
- This is Gaza.
And this is what you call - Over here, the West Bank.
- The West Bank.
Now, all this I want you to understand.
People think, you know, you hear so much about Israel that people think this is America.
This This is 30 km.
- That's all it is? - That's all it is.
- This is the country that God wanted.
- Right.
He didn't make Jerusalem just like that.
He made Jerusalem because he wanted Jerusalem here, not anywhere else.
Right.
That's a good point! He didn't put Jerusalem in New Jersey.
Do you think, after all, do you think there'll be a day when what you do won't be as necessary? Do you ever think that day will come in our lifetimes? I'll tell you something.
My mother when I was a kid, she told me, "You know what? When you grow up and you become 18," you know, every boy over here goes into the army, "I pray that you don't go to the army.
" With God's help, I hope it happens.
Let's say if there's peace, gladly I'll put down the weapons and will find something else.
- We'll all go sell cars.
- Right.
But to be realistic, I don't think it's the situation.
Jerusalem is more than 2,000 years old.
It's been attacked over 50 times, and three different religions consider this city holy ground.
Politically, the fight for Jerusalem is a hot-button topic around the world.
In a region where so many religions, countries and faiths intersect, peaceful solutions aren't always easy to come by.
Tell me the greatest challenges that you face as the mayor in what is arguably the holiest place in the world.
In one square kilometer right there in the Old City, we have more synagogues, mosques and churches than anywhere in the world, functioning for the benefit of so many different constituencies.
And so the challenge is, how do you live together? Not one on the account of the other, but one side-by-side to each other.
Naturally, the majority of the people want to live peacefully, want to respect each other.
But sometimes you have people that want to destroy that peace.
So that's the biggest challenge, naturally, we have.
Now, on average, the number of people getting hurt in our case is very negligible, or relatively small relative to what you see - in the United States and in Europe.
- Right.
So the fact that you can engage means that you know that sometimes you're risking your life for the benefit of your community and your people.
But it's part of the DNA and the culture.
Mutual commitment, mutual responsibility between the different people.
Naturally, we prefer to live peacefully and create relationships and cooperation.
- Right.
- But we know how to fight.
In Israel, if you're talking about fighting, you're talking Krav Maga.
This is not a sport.
It's not healthy.
It's not healthy for me.
It's not healthy for the public, for the environment.
Okay, I'm learning over here something basically helping me to kill someone.
- Okay? - That's Krav Maga.
That is Krav Maga.
It's a weapon.
It's a loaded weapon.
If you are just going to learn to use this body as a weapon, you're gonna be protected.
So, first of all, we learn never go back.
- First rule.
- You don't move back? Never back.
First rule never back.
Second rule not only protection.
Don't stay behind cover.
So you must get into a cover, but be effective behind that cover.
Okay, put your hands over here.
- Here? - Your hand on my cheek.
- Okay, I'm moving forward.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Now, who are you? A friend from the neighborhood? - Yes, I'm a friend - Perfect.
Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Try to take your hand back.
- Calm down! - I'm good.
- You understand the message? - Yeah.
Okay.
Now let's change you a little bit.
You're not a friend from the neighborhood.
- Right.
- Okay? You are a terrorist.
- You are a terrorist.
- Right.
The gun is sterilized.
You can feel safe.
Okay.
Now, let's flow with this.
Okay, what I just did? - You - First of all, you have no more elbow.
- Right.
- Okay.
Third your face in a second is gonna be on the floor.
Oh! Okay? Now, I'm very easy with you, by the way.
- Of course.
- Okay, and from now on, I don't have any interest to release you out.
- Right.
- Okay.
But, anyway, you're gonna get shot in two seconds.
From here So there is no reason for you to continue to fight.
- I'm not a police officer.
- Right.
I'm not gonna arrest you.
I have no handcuffs.
The first thing I want to get is to the deadly weapon as fast as I can.
If you're gonna stand there, no impact.
Sir, put your weapon down! That's it.
Leave the bullshit.
Sir, put your weapon down.
If it's coming in here, I have no time to respond with my weapon.
First, respond Krav Maga.
Denied it.
Boom.
Get to the weapon.
Weapon sterilize.
Continue the fight till you're going to kill the person.
- Now, you do the Thai boxing, right? - Yeah.
So part of Krav Maga is also learn how to get hit.
- How to get hit? - How to get hit.
- Right.
- Okay.
Show me your middle kick, ribs.
Oh, do you want me to kick Yeah, I want to feel your Okay, trying not to get hurt.
- Yeah.
- Okay, try to get in here.
- A little bit stronger.
- Yeah? It makes me scared.
A little bit stronger.
- Wow! - A little bit.
Try.
Try to hurt.
Come on.
Go for it, brother.
Come on! Go for it.
Come on, you're playing with me.
No, I can't kick him any harder than that! - Go for it.
- Jesus Christ! Go for it.
Come on! You're going to hurt yourself.
That is the idea of learn to get hit.
Now, how I'm doing it? I'm not different from you.
I'm not stronger than you.
Yes, you are.
- No.
- Yes, you are! Physically, no.
Physically, I have no clue who is stronger between us.
- Right.
- I don't care about it.
I'm trying to be stronger than you in here because there's no ring, there's no judge, and there's no crowd who's watching and give me, "Hey, good!" Okay? While I'm gonna kick you, you're not going to hear Okay, you're gonna hear God next to you.
That's what I'm trying to do.
Okay? And the second there is a combat, that's it.
Boom! The bits goes out.
So yes, I'm going to break a rib.
I'm gonna break my chin, I'm gonna break my nose, but I'm gonna continue to fight.
What's going to hold me on the ground, it's my adrenaline and how determined I am to see my daughters in the end of the day.
Okay, when I'm fighting, I see my wife, my daughter at home, sitting and waiting for me, and I'm gonna be there.
That's your responsibility.
That's right.
- That is the idea.
- That's right.
Now, we're not talking about this, okay? Take it.
- Cock the gun.
- Right.
Don't worry about it.
Cock the gun.
Perfect.
Now, what do you want? I'm unarmed.
You're armed.
What do you want? You want to shoot? You're gonna shoot.
That's it.
I had nothing to do with this.
Okay? Here is psychology of the combat.
Okay? You got a gun.
Choose the action.
What do you want? You are the actor right now.
Yeah, create the scenario.
Your money! - Sir, what do you want? - Your money! It's here! Okay, try to pull the trigger.
Try to pull the trigger.
It's not going.
The handgun And go back.
What I just did? Cock the gun.
Put the finger on the trigger.
- Sir, what do you want? - Money! Okay, it's right here.
I'm taking your eyes from me.
Now, what do you see? What I'm doing? I'm afraid, right? No, I'm in a way of combat.
- I'm in a body position.
- Right.
Okay, now, what I'm trying to do is to stay as close as I can.
Why? At a second, I'm here.
I have nothing to do with this.
Okay, if I'm gonna take the decision to give you your money, if I'm gonna be in Venezuela right now, I'm gonna take my wallet "Just take it and leave.
" Okay, I'm not gonna get into it.
But if I'm in Israel, he don't want my money.
He wants to push me into the car to get me to the Gaza Strip and to start negotiations with the government.
That's going to take five years if I'm gonna see my family anymore.
I'm going to go for all of it at a second.
If I'm gonna get shot, it doesn't matter.
Sooner or later, I'm going to die.
Okay? So, "What do you want?" Handgun is sterilized.
I've got a gun.
Even you're ready for that, you didn't know how to get over it.
What I'm using, my reflexes and your reflexes at a time.
Look how I did it.
I'm getting closer.
"Okay, here's my money.
" I pulled my eyes.
- Your eyes.
It's happened again.
- Right.
Weapon is sterilized.
Any weapon with a magazine in the world, you're going to pull the slide back.
That's it, the weapon's sterilized.
You cannot shoot.
You're jammed.
Now, I'm using this.
Try to hold it strong.
It's going out.
Now, I'm going to open the distance.
I want to shoot Kill whenever I want.
- That is the idea.
Yeah.
- That's I don't even know what You're a machine.
I mean, you are.
You're a machine.
It's like It's intimidating.
There's no way to get through to you.
I mean, to kick you, to There is a way.
There is a way.
- I have something to lose.
- Right.
You're going to take the hope from me, that's it.
You opened the door.
Okay? What is holding us over here, and the Krav Maga came from that, - it's a hope.
- Right.
The hope of the promised.
And what happened 75 years ago, that we promised Never again.
So I prefer to be a dead lion from a live dog.
- Right.
- Okay? Maybe it sounds crazy, but this is my beliefs.
- Okay? That is my agenda.
- Yeah.
Now, what represents a human being over here, of course it's freedom, love, life, democracy.
But from the other side, if somebody going to come to hurt me, to keep my promise to my great-grandfather who didn't succeed to see that land, those walls and me, as a great-grandchild of him, I'm going to make a justice with any bastard who can lay his finger on one of my friends, my family or the citizens and the civilians of my country.
You know what you didn't mention, which I find amazing.
You didn't mention that it had to be a Jewish friend.
It's not about just being Jewish.
- No.
- It's not.
I don't care about your religious beliefs.
Look, that is a storage.
Your body is a storage of your soul.
There is a very famous doctor, Islamic doctor.
Her name is Wafa Sultan.
She said once you can believe in the sun, but don't burn me with that sun.
You can believe in a rock, but don't throw that rock on me.
- Right.
- Okay? Now, to say I'm ready to die for my country, not because I represent death.
- Because I represent freedom.
- Right.
Like I told you before, I prefer to be a dead lion from a live dog.
Never again.
It means never again to bend my head, to take my eyes down when I see somebody he think is better than me, because nobody better than me and I'm not better than anybody.
What we're going to do, we're going to head down from the Jaffa Gate area, we're going to walk towards the Western Wall.
We're going to head down, in fact, one of the most sensitive areas across the country.
In each one of the different quarters, you have significant sites.
And, of course, you have the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and the Church of the Sepulchre and the Israeli National Police are in charge and responsible for making sure that Jerusalem is safe and those three different areas are safe.
The training that these officers must go through, is it high-level close-quarter martial art, Krav Maga? Is it all of that combined? All of our officers go through basic training at the National Police Academy.
And how many officers are inside the Old City? In the Old City, we have more than 600 officers patrolling in and around the different areas.
The Israeli National Police work together with different units all over the world in order to share our knowledge, our tactics, whether it's in Krav Maga, fighting at close range, whether it's responding in order to deal with terrorist incidents.
You know, we've gone to so many places around the world dealing with the fighter's life and, you know, the difference being that these guys get on a mat or in a cage or in a ring and when you're fighting, it's your occupation.
You're not gonna die, do you know what I mean? Yeah.
It's tactical, it's high-level, there's conditioning involved, but at the end of the day, you're leaving the cage - and you're gonna go home.
- Exactly.
Maybe a trip to the hospital, but you're gonna go home.
Just by definition of who the Israeli people are, they are All Israeli people are fighters, are warriors.
They all are.
Absolutely.
When you look around, you can see officers here.
These are IDF officers that are, in fact, going through an educational course and they're visiting here, Jerusalem, to be connected to the different sites and the different areas.
They're not on any security patrol, but once again, all of these youngsters at the age of 18, 19 and 20Â are already in the army.
Are those weapons sterilized? Do they No, those are M16s and if there is any incident that happens, they also, according to the orders they are given in the IDF, they have to respond as well, but when you walk around Jerusalem, despite the threats that exist, and there can be a lone terrorist and a lone terrorist can come around from some area, possibly pull out a knife, try and attack someone.
Israel's tremendously safe.
When we walk around, we walk around here in peace and quiet.
My kids walk around here.
My kids go to school in the Old City.
They walk around in the day, in the night.
Nine o'clock in the evening, you'll see children walking around the streets.
Things are safe, things are calm.
I feel safe.
I've been, again, all over the world - and I've felt unsafe in many places.
- Yeah.
I feel safer here right now than I do walking in New York City.
So now we're going to head down the stairs which lead to, in fact, the most holy site and holy place for the Jewish religion.
Yeah.
The Temple Mount area just to the left of us is the third most significant area to the Muslim religion.
And we passed already the Church of the Sepulchre, which is the most significant place to the Christian religion.
So within that 1.
1 square miles, they have the three most significant and important places in the world.
It's really hard to articulate what I'm even seeing.
- It really is.
- Here where we are, just overlooking the area of the Temple Mount, you can see the Western Wall right in front of us.
Our units are fully geared, fully ready to respond to any type of incident on any level because if there were to be an incident that would take place here inside Jerusalem at one of these areas, it would have repercussions not just here in Jerusalem, but across the whole of Israel and possibly across the whole of the Middle East as well.
Mister policeman, mister.
I will put a string on him.
Come.
May the Lord provide, may he provide good fortune, a good life without worries.
Health, success, marriage, a male heir, fortune and good luck.
So, she's giving you a blessing.
She's blessing you.
She wants to touch your head.
You don't have to if you don't want.
Whereas Jerusalem is literally a city divided, Tel Aviv feels like any other cosmopolitan city, but where cultures clash, conflict follows and in the Middle East, fighting isn't for the ring.
Fighting is in the blood.
When you're looking for balance, you're not protecting yourself correctly.
So then I go in.
So it's chess.
Every - Yeah.
- Like, anything.
So you grab my arm If you grab my arm - And you try to pull, right? - I try to pull.
So my basic instinct is My basic instinct when you pull me is to pull back.
But then you go to a more feminine point of view.
So when you pull me, I go in.
You come in.
You close the gap.
- Right, so now I try to come here - You go here.
- Right.
- And I go here.
Right, and then we grapple.
And if it's pure grappling, that's it.
I'm done.
- I'm going to the ground.
- Right.
But then I can - Cut that.
- But how do you defend against that? That's amazing because defense against a knife is one of the great mysteries of fighting.
- It is.
- 'Cause whenever you block a knife - Right.
- The guy cuts you back.
- Yeah.
- On the way back.
So when you work with a knife, you want to always redirect it so that you don't know where your knife is going.
And then there is a simple structure when you go in.
When I focus on disarming a knife, so many things can go wrong and you're an idiot if you think that with a true blade, you're not pissing your pants.
- Yeah.
- That's scary.
So your movements become like a big baboon.
Not like a gentle practitioner of something.
So when you come in, I want to keep it going, right, and then I attack what is holding the knife.
It's not the hand holding the knife.
It's your brain holding the knife.
So when I go to your eyes, your brain has to readjust - and say, "Shit, fuck the knife.
" - So I'm dropping this knife.
Yeah, so I go to the shoulder lock.
But if it doesn't work and you push off or you punch me, I need to react, but where's the knife? - Not in my hand! - Not in your hand anymore.
That's it, man.
That's amazing.
What I do, what I learn and still am learning all the time is bathe in the reality of fighting.
You know, "This didn't work.
This did work.
We're lacking this.
We need this.
" How do I take a guy and control him with an option? Because if I take an elbow and I start locking it and you tap, right, so in a competition, I won, right? But if I do it in reality, I'm your hostage because if I let you go, you're an animal.
- Yeah.
- You're going to kill me.
So the armbar may be good for a brawl in a bar, but if I'm in the middle of a hostile environment, I draw so much attention to myself, it's ridiculous.
You're gonna die.
You're going to die.
- But if I go from here - Yeah.
and I even, you know, just touch your chin on the right spot and you go down and I can continue walking as if nothing happens and it's a crowded place.
- This is fighting.
- So the whole concept of fighting, here more than anywhere else, is that it's not about finishing.
- It's not about ego.
- It's not about ego.
It's not about ego.
It's about survival.
- It's about survival.
- Yeah, that's correct.
And it's a switch in mentality.
That's why a lot of these things don't fit in the ring, and a lot of competitive stuff doesn't fit in reality.
I'm going to tell you something.
So I've been training all different I wrestled my whole life, boxed, jujitsu, everything.
When I've come to Israel I really feel like I don't know what I'm doing because I'm not defending against losing points or I'm defending against my life.
Israeli culture is different.
We don't have this privilege of being "me, me, me, me" all the time.
- No.
- We're not that many people so if I see something, I can't close my eyes to it.
- Ever.
- Ever.
But sometimes and many times, it crosses the culture barrier.
- - Hey.
- Hey.
As a fighter at the highest level, which you are, do you find that you can integrate Muslims, Christians, Jews together when it comes to fighting or is here the one place where you can't do that? Obviously, we can because in my classes, I have everyone.
They train together.
I think that fighting, because of the purity of it, - everything becomes so clear and simple.
- Right.
- You never think about politics anymore.
- Ever.
Because after a training session, everything outwardly seems so small.
Everything is so simple, and it's a real brotherhood.
It gives you hope.
It gives you such hope.
What were you trying to achieve? Are you trying to come loose? Then why do you make it your goal to rip his hands apart? Let him leave them like this.
It couldn't be any better.
Let him keep his hands closed.
 I let him just keep trying as I escape his grip.
Then just punch him in the face, that's it.
It's all just fine.
I don't need to make this excessive effort.
As humans, we have this thing where we can cling onto the thing we feel will challenge us the most.
How many times a day do you try to grab onto something so it won't escape you? How many times? A million? Whenever you have something important, you hold on to it to never let it go.
So what do we have here? It's a conflict of interests.
He wants one thing, and I want something else.
There's a battle of wills between us.
I'm Muslim and proud to be so.
I respect all religions, be it a Christian or Jew.
In training, we treat each other like brothers.
Any other external issues do not matter.
Here, we have nothing but respect and love for one another.
We are a family.
You're allowed to moan and scream, but do not give up.
I live in Jerusalem.
I'm a Christian Arab, and here, this is the place that really is a neutral place.
We don't have something called politics.
This is like my second home.
So it is all connected together.
It is something You know, it is something incredible.
You have this breathing organism of people who seemingly have no connection to each other whatsoever and we're supposed to be adversaries, at least on a civil level.
But, no, they train together and they sweat together, and it's amazing.
You see the love.
Now there is brotherhood.
It's an actual family, and they call each other and call me when we needed them.
So when my wife was hospitalized two years ago with a very serious - It was a disaster.
- Yeah.
All of them all of them were there, not as my students, as my brothers.
And they prayed for me, they prayed for her.
They offered every type of assistance.
Friendships form, you know.
When you work out together, it creates something.
So, automatically, even if we're different people, from different cultures, it just happens.
You suddenly get to know the human in them much better.
And clearly that makes a difference, because then you view others differently, and you learn that they don't view those things different from us, yes, it changes your perspective.
And here, we can see people here are from different cultures, shades of life, and it makes no difference if they're religious-secular, faith, race or gender, all that.
We have them all in this place.
There are human beings, and there is this grand conflict.
It's very important for us to connect through contact and this is what martial arts does.
You have two arms too and one head, yeah, and you feel pain and I feel pain, a heart, and it's beating fast.
And you're sweating, I feel you're sweating.
And what is it about people that after we punch each other in the face, we become the best friends? - Best friends.
- It's crazy, you know? The guys in the UN are sitting and talking.
"What are you talking about? Give them gloves and hit them.
" I think that it's inevitable to go about this in two ways.
One is through education.
If we keep on teaching the younger generation to hate the other side there is never an end to this.
And it doesn't matter what treaty you sign or what lands you swamp, if you're educating for hatred, then you're building with rotten foundations and you can't build peace on rotten foundations.
Eventually, it will collapse, and that hatred will rise again.
I like the martial arts because we're creating a dialogue between each other and I am working with you, it's my responsibility to give you a better training session and your responsibility to give me a better training session.
That education are two, I believe, major pillars of how we can start bridging some of the gaps in order to create a brighter future for our children.
I founded this non-profit organization called Budo For Peace.
Budo is traditional martial arts, all of them together - aikido, karate, judo.
And "For Peace," it's for peace.
We use martial arts ethics in an educational way as a platform for bringing different minority groups and different kids together and as you see here, we have Jewish religious kids.
We have Arab kids.
We have immigrant kids from Ethiopia, and they all come together using martial arts.
I want everyone in partners with somebody you don't know.
There's two main things that if you want to begin to have co-existence that we have to combat and that is ignorance and fear.
Now, once these kids meet First of all, they never get a chance in Israel, really, to meet because they live in different villages.
So by bringing them together, first of all, it breaks down ignorance.
They wear similar clothes, they do the same bowing.
They do similar movements.
The stretching is the same, the breathing is the same so straight away, it brings down ignorance.
Then comes fear.
Now, in martial arts, you see here, okay, you've got to create a safe place, a dojo or a sanctuary, - so you have to build trust.
- And new partner! And that's the bottom line.
If you can respect yourself and others, you can create harmony within yourself.
Then you have the opportunity to have harmony with other people, and I really believe through the kids, from the bottom up, we'll be able to make peace.
The leaders, you know, they take their time, but if the kids can really get to know and trust others, this is the way to go about it.
Jewish people and Muslims, and not only them, everyone in the world can make peace, like there's war between Jewish people and Muslims and now we're here practicing together karate and show them there's nothing impossible.
You need to look deep for it to find peace and happy life.
In Israel and the other countries, they are like, "I am Muslim, you are Jewish.
I hate you.
" Like, in my opinion, we all are human.
We have to love each other.
I don't think it matters if you're Jewish or Muslim or anything else.
Before I got here, I had, like different opinions about the Arabs, you know.
We thought that they're the enemy and stuff like that.
But after I join Budo For Peace, they are like my friends.
I love everyone.
And this is what this country has to give, by the way.
You won't find the best runners, you won't find the best fighters, but you'll find people with a heart that are willing to give for other people.
That's amazing.
There's always threat.
The world emerged from two main powers.
Good and bad.
- Right.
- There's always It's always been.
It's always going to be there.
- I agree.
- Choose the side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Choose where you want to be.
This is my wife.
All of those guys is my friends.
I believe you don't know them.
- L'chaim.
- Thank you so much.
L'chaim.
It's a complete soul search from the inside out and when it's done in the proper environment, with brotherhood and love, and when we go through that together, you mix blood with blood and sweat with sweat and that's it.
You become one.
You become brothers and sisters for life.
And it's fucked up sometimes.
You know, you have politics, and you have some bad people like everybody else, and then you go and you fight and you train together and you know what? Everybody bleeds the same.
Everybody sweats the same and when you feel like shit and puke, you know, it looks the same.
It's just You understand that there is no actual difference between human beings and everybody who fights has to have a reason why.
And I think that in the end, most reasons are the same.
It's the same.
You want to protect yourself and protect the people you love.
And, you know, then you finish a fighting session and everybody dresses up again, and it's different.
There's no hate, and everyone takes this message back home, and bit by bit, we become part of this immunity system.
Within this huge organism, we spread proper ideas that you don't have to be afraid anymore and martial arts and Krav Maga and fighting, it disciplines you.
I view that as a universal thing.
It connects everyone.
We need that.
We need that energy.
We need that cultivation of ourselves.
It's true love.
It's true love.
Between warriors, always it's true love.
Because I saved his life and he saved mine.
Around the world, fighting for what you believe in is truth.
Maybe it's that fight, that instinct to fight, to survive, to protect, more than any difference in faith or culture or color, that has the power to unite.