Fencing is among the branches of sports represented at the Olympic Games when they first began in Athens in 1896 and from the 1st Maccabiah in 1932. The Israeli team won only one medal at the 1st Maccabiah – that of fencer Oshra Sharar.

With time, male and female fencers on the Israeli national team excelled in the Maccabiah Games, but the name Hatuel has repeatedly been on the list of winners, beginning with the 10th Maccabiah when Haim and Yitzhak Hatuel competed. In the 1970s, Haim Hatuel founded the Acco Fencing Club at which his ten siblings and his children were among the fencers trained. Siblings Yitzhak and Lidia and his daughter Delilah represented Israel in World Championship competitions and in the Olympic Games