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Core Safeguard
Non-negotiable: ReJEWenate ambassadors advocate openly and lawfully. They do not fabricate evidence, impersonate independent voices, operate fake grassroots accounts, harass critics, conceal sponsorship, dox individuals, manipulate private data, or represent themselves as official Israeli spokespersons without authorization.
How to Use This Course Manual
This manual is designed to function without a separate textbook. Every week contains the core concepts that trainees are expected to learn, the practical skill to be rehearsed, a trainer plan, examples, assessment questions, answer keys and a source list. Trainers may add regional examples but may not remove verification, ethics, safety or assessment components. The manual deliberately separates enduring knowledge from fast-changing information.
Historical documents, institutional structures and communication methods can be taught from the manual. Current war, legal, diplomatic and political claims must be checked in a dated evidence pack before use. This protects the Academy from teaching yesterday’s headlines as permanent fact. The course supports a unified ambassador structure. Every ambassador completes the common ReJEWenate core.
Trainees assigned to the Bnei Anusim / Path of Return track receive additional historical and referral guidance while remaining bound by the same truth, dignity, source and authority limits.
Course Outcomes
Explain Jewish peoplehood, the Jewish historical relationship to the Land of Israel, modern Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel with dates, sources and appropriate nuance.
Explain Israel’s principal democratic and civic institutions without reducing Israeli society to the conflict.
Describe major Israeli-Palestinian conflict milestones, use geographic and political terminology precisely, and distinguish factual chronology from competing narratives and legal interpretation.
Apply the Academy source hierarchy, five-question verification test and claim labels to real and simulated content.
Recognize common forms of antisemitism while avoiding the false claim that every criticism of Israel is antisemitic.
Use LACE — Listen, Acknowledge, Clarify, Evidence — in difficult conversations and know when strategic nonengagement is preferable.
Deliver accurate 60-second, three-minute, ten-minute and longer briefings; answer media questions without bluffing or evasion.
Create ethical digital content with accessible design, traceable sources and no deceptive amplification.
Operate the R0–R4 rapid-response classification and nine-step response cycle under supervision.
For the Bnei Anusim track, explain history and program pathways without pretending that family traditions, surnames, DNA or an ambassador’s opinion determine halachic or legal status.
Foundational Tools Used Every Week
1. Source Hierarchy Tier Examples Use A — Primary / authoritative Laws, court decisions, treaties, official statistical releases, original transcripts, authenticated documents, official institutional data. Preferred for foundational factual claims. Attribution still matters. B — High-quality independent Professional news organizations, peer-reviewed research, established research institutes with transparent methods. Corroboration, context and contested events.
C — Specialist / advocacy NGOs, think tanks, legal advocacy organizations, campaigns. Useful but identify the organization’s perspective and cross-check disputed claims. D — Open-source / social Social posts, user video, screenshots, crowdsourced maps, anonymous accounts. Lead only until independently verified. Never sufficient alone for high-risk claims.
2. Five-Question Verification Test
What exactly is the claim? Reduce it to one testable sentence.
What is the original source? Find the document, recording, dataset, ruling, transcript or first identifiable publication.
Is the source authentic, complete and current? Check date, issuer, context, version and whether the item has been altered.
What independent evidence supports or contradicts it? Seek corroboration and actively look for disconfirming evidence.
What level of certainty can we responsibly state? Use the Academy claim labels rather than pretending all claims are equally certain.
3. Claim Labels
Label Meaning Verified Supported by reliable primary evidence or multiple strong independent sources. Supported Evidence points strongly in one direction but important uncertainty remains. Disputed Credible sources materially disagree. Explain the disagreement rather than hiding it. Unverified Insufficient evidence. Do not repeat as fact. False / materially misleading Evidence demonstrates the claim is incorrect or omits context that reverses its meaning.
Opinion / interpretation A viewpoint, moral judgment, legal interpretation or political position. Identify it as such.
4. LACE Communication Model
Step Practice Example Listen Identify the actual question and the setting: dialogue, debate, media, crisis or harassment. “Are you asking about the historical claim, the current policy, or both?” Acknowledge Recognize a legitimate concern, uncertainty or emotion without conceding an unsupported factual premise. “Civilian suffering is a serious concern. We should be precise about what is known.” Step Practice Example Clarify State the narrow proposition you can responsibly answer.
“I can explain what Resolution 181 proposed; I cannot infer today’s legal boundary from that document alone.” Evidence Give one to three strong facts or sources, explain uncertainty, then stop. “The resolution was adopted on 29 November 1947 and proposed Arab and Jewish states with a special regime for Jerusalem.” 5. The No-Bluffing Rule Approved professional language: “I do not know that reliably enough to answer.
I will check the source.” An ambassador loses less credibility by acknowledging uncertainty than by inventing a confident answer that later proves false.