The owner of a popular South Florida gun club that provides self-defense classes to women is charged with physically assaulting his girlfriend and her best friend, deputies say.
Maoz Muskal, 49, put his 27-year-old girlfriend in a chokehold before punching her friend in the face when she tried to intervene at the couple’s West Boca home in March, according to a probable cause affidavit. The friend told Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he then dragged his girlfriend by her hair back inside the house when she tried to leave.
Though the incident happened in March, prosecutors did not file charges until early April, and deputies did not arrest Muskal until April 27. He now faces one count of domestic battery and one count of simple battery, both misdemeanors. He pleaded not guilty to both counts last Thursday.
Most domestic violence cases come with protection orders that require defendants to surrender their firearms. But a Palm Beach County judge allowed Muskal to keep his guns “for work purposes,” according to a copy of a no-contact order filed April 28, a decision that has angered some of those close to the victims.
“They let a highly trained military gun owner keep his weapons,” a family friend of the woman who was allegedly punched said in a texted statement on her behalf.
Muskal, an Israeli citizen who goes by “Commander M,” is the owner of the gun club SSC Tactical in southern Palm Beach County, according to deputies, social media and business records. The company trains law enforcement as well as civilians and teaches self-defense classes to women including Krav Maga and shooting techniques.
When deputies spoke with Muskal’s girlfriend the night of the incident, she declined to press charges beyond saying in a sworn statement the two had a “confrontation,” according to body camera footage and a probable cause affidavit. She told deputies she didn’t want to get Muskal in trouble or potentially harm his relationship with his children.
She did not return texts or calls Tuesday.
Muskal “is one hundred percent not guilty of these charges,” his attorney, Patrick McKamey of McKamey and Williams, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday. “We expect him to be fully vindicated in the courtroom, and we were surprised that he even got charged given the evidence.”
‘Like a switch flip’
The night of March 8 started out “perfect,” the friend told deputies in the footage. Muskal, his girlfriend and her friend of 15 years had gone out together and were having a great time before returning to the couple’s West Boca home. Muskal and his girlfriend had been dating for about a year.
When his girlfriend went into her bedroom to change clothes, Muskal, who was sitting next to the friend on the couch, grabbed her and tried to kiss her, she told deputies, according to the affidavit. She pushed him away with both hands, but he tried to kiss her again. She then stood up and walked into his girlfriend’s bedroom and told her what had happened.
Muskal, who had been drinking, came in a few minutes later, she told deputies, and his girlfriend became upset with him. He denied that anything had happened. The girlfriend began pushing him towards the door, at which point he pushed her back, then put her in a chokehold on the bed as she cried for help. Muskal is 6’1 and much bigger than both of them, the friend said.
When the friend screamed for him to get off of his girlfriend, Muskal walked up to her, telling her to get out of his house before punching her in the face, according to her statement. He then turned back to his girlfriend and began punching her, according to the probable cause affidavit. The friend ran out of the house, then turned when she heard screaming behind her and saw Muskal drag his girlfriend back inside by her hair before shutting the door. The friend got in the car and called 911.
She later told deputies that she had met Muskal only twice before and had never seen him act anything but sweet towards her friend.
“It was like a switch flip,” she said.
Deputies arrived to find both the friend and Muskal’s girlfriend, who had left the home and followed her, in a shopping plaza nearby, according to the affidavit. There, they tried to convince Muskal’s girlfriend to press charges, but she insisted on staying out of it, according to the footage, telling them he had a green card and young children visiting from Israel.
“I can’t tamper with it, his babies are coming next Thursday,” she said. “I’m not going to do anything. I can’t.”
“What about your babies?” the deputy asked.
“My babies are good,” she replied. “My babies are safe.”
“Your babies could have been without a mom today, easily,” the deputy said. “You don’t see half the sh** that has happened in the news.”
The March incident came amid backlash over law enforcement’s handling of a different domestic violence case in Tamarac. Nathan Gingles shot his wife, Mary, her father and a neighbor in front of their young daughter in February, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Unlike in Muskal’s case, a judge had ordered that Gingles surrender his guns, including the one he used that day, to the Broward Sheriff’s Office due to a domestic violence injunction. He never did.
A few minutes after speaking with Muskal’s girlfriend and her friend, deputies went to the couple’s West Boca home, where no one answered the door. Outside, they conferred with one another over potential charges.
“We have false imprisonment,” one said, referring to Muskal dragging his girlfriend into the house, though prosecutors didn’t end up charging him with that. Another said they could have tried to charge him with strangulation if not for the girlfriend not cooperating. Muskal was not charged with strangulation either.
Deputies also spoke that night about how Muskal likely had firearms inside the home, though his girlfriend arrived soon after and told them the only gun inside was her own.
Muskal has no prior criminal or domestic violence history in Palm Beach County, according to court records, but a filing from a family court case in Israel described him as a “violent man” who had extramarital affairs, summarizing an account from his wife, who is also the mother of his children. A divorce case between the two also references “complaints” made by Muskal’s wife to Israeli police that kept him from being able to work as a carpenter because he could not go to government offices. Ultimately, the two agreed to shared custody of their children, and the wife agreed to drop her police complaint against Muskal. The Israel family court documents were included in a Palm Beach County court child support case in 2020.
Some of those close to the recent case are now upset that it took over a month for Muskal to be arrested, that prosecutors did not file steeper charges, and that the judge did not order him to surrender his guns.
“Our ‘justice system’ has taken months to arrest” Muskal, the statement from the family friend said, someone “who tried to make sexual advances and then beat two women in his home.”
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the reasoning behind the charges, citing the active case. Part of the reason charges were filed in early April when the incident happened in March is because deputies did not bring the case to the State Attorney until March 20, a spokesperson said.
McKamey, Muskal’s attorney, said there were “zero injuries” and that he was “surprised (Muskal) even got charged given the evidence.”
The jaw of the friend who was punched was “slightly swollen,” deputies said in the affidavit.
Asked about the judge’s decision to allow Muskal to keep his firearms, McKamey said his client required them for work and was using them only for that purpose, similar to when judges allow bartenders to possess alcohol for work purposes if they get a DUI.
“You’re really not being presumed innocent if it’s going to end your ability to work,” McKamey said.
SSC Tactical
Muskal, identified only as Commander M, formerly served in the Israeli special forces and police, according to posters for SSC Tactical on social media.
The company’s training is “based on battle proven methods by Israeli special forces,” one poster reads.
Videos on the company’s social media pages depict Muskal training people to shoot a range of weapons, including AR rifles and handguns. Some videos show him teaching Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies and West Palm Beach Police officers how to operate law enforcement technology used in Israel.
Multiple posts advertise women’s self-defense classes focused on CPR, pistol shooting and Krav Maga techniques, designed to help women defend themselves in “real life situations.”
“Don’t be that girl that’s not prepared,” reads one caption in a video advertisement on Instagram. Another reads, “Empowered Women, Tactical Warriors!”
Other videos on the company’s YouTube page demonstrate how to escape being choked.
A case disposition hearing on the misdemeanor charges is set for May 12.
