Instructor
Mike Lee Kanarek was born Lee Van Hong during the Vietnam War to an American father and a Vietnamese mother. Due to his “Half-Breed” status, his mother gave him up for adoption and UNICEF routed the war orphan to Belgium for adoption. At the age of 5 months, Lee Van Hong was renamed Michel Kanarek by his Jewish adopting family. Arriving to Belgium very sick and malnourished, it was questionable if the infant would even make it. Nourished with nothing but love from his new family Michel Kanarek grew up into a strong boy in Brussels until the age of 10 years old. His father, Emil Kanarek, always wanted to do “Aliha” and return to Israel in his old age. Emil Kanarek was a Palmach officer in the Haganah, the partisan army that ended up fighting for the independence of Israel in 1948. So, at the age of 10 years old Michel Kanarek moved to Israel with his family to live right by the red sea, in the beautiful town of Eilat .
At the age of 18 years old , Michel Kanarek volunteered to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF. After a selective process Michel Kanarek was selected to serve in one of the IDF’s best Special Ops unit “Orev Golani”, one of the three Special Forces units of the legendary Golani Brigade. His volunteer tour of duty included anti-terrorism missions in the West Bank region and in South Lebanon .
After serving 3 years in the IDF, Michel Kanarek emigrated to the United States and was renamed Mike Lee Kanarek. Since that time, he’s striven to constantly evolve his knowledge and experience into developing a Reality Fighting system matched by none. In that process, Kanarek has majored in the Martial Arts. He earned a sixth degree Black Belt directly under Joe Lewis, the father of American Full-Contact Kickboxing, a fourth degree Black Belt in Israeli Hisardut and Tae Kwon Do, a first Degree Black Belt in Israeli Krav Maga and Judo and a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He also achieved Instructor Certification in Muay Thai.
With a “Hands On” military experience and a 20 year Combat Sports Martial Arts career, Mike Lee Kanarek has develop a world class Reality Fighting system, HaganaH, proven to work under pressure sought out by many professional from countless Law Enforcement Agencies and Elite Military units.
Personal Site – MikeLeeKanarek.com