The scenes from Bnei Brak on Sunday were difficult to watch. Two young women in IDF uniform, members of the Education and Youth Corps, came to the city for a simple welfare visit to a fellow soldier’s home. They were not distributing draft notices. They were not enforcing anything. Yet rumors spread that military police were in the area. Within minutes, a crowd formed. The soldiers were chased. Trash bins were overturned. A police car was flipped. A motorcycle was set on fire.
It is clear that something deeper than a momentary outburst has taken place. This was not just anger. It was a failure of systems. False information traveled faster than truth. No one had the authority or the tools to stop it in time. And once emotions took over, reason disappeared.
What happened in Bnei Brak showed that the gap between parts of the chareidi street and the state has become dangerous. When a phone alert or message can mobilize hundreds of people on a false premise, when soldiers cannot walk safely in a Jewish city, something is badly wrong. This is no longer just about the draft. It is about trust, communication, and control.
That is why Israel should seriously consider calling in President Trump’s Board of Peace.
The Board of Peace was created by President Donald Trump to deal with conflicts that normal politics cannot solve. Its main focus has been Gaza, but its broader mission is to restore order, rebuild trust, and create workable systems in places where tensions have spun out of control. It is not meant to replace governments. It is meant to help them function when they are stuck.
Bnei Brak and the broader “chareidim versus the state” issue fits that description.
Right now, there is no clear system for handling sensitive situations in chareidi neighborhoods. There is no fast, trusted way for the army to explain what is happening before rumors spread. There is no agreed-upon emergency channel between security forces and community leaders. Everything is improvised. And improvisation is a recipe for chaos.
The Board of Peace specializes in building practical frameworks. That could mean clear rules about how the IDF operates in sensitive areas. It could mean permanent liaison teams made up of respected rabbanim and officials who can intervene immediately. It could mean rapid-response fact-checking networks that shut down false reports before they explode. It could mean agreed-upon de-escalation procedures so that police and residents know exactly what to do when tensions rise.
These are not ideological solutions. They are management solutions. And that is exactly what is missing.
Another reason the Board matters is neutrality. Israel’s political system is deeply divided. Every incident becomes ammunition. Some use Bnei Brak to attack the Torah world. Others use it to attack the government. In that environment, any internal mediation effort is immediately suspected of bias.
An outside framework changes that. Because the Board of Peace is not part of Israeli coalition politics, it can bring people to the table without automatically being seen as “on one side.”
There is also an important human factor here: Jared Kushner, who is a central figure on the Board. He is also a frum Jew who understands the chareidi world from the inside. He knows what Torah learning means. He understands the fears about spiritual erosion. He respects rabbinic authority. At the same time, he has spent years working at the highest levels of government and diplomacy.
He can speak the language of policymakers and the language of yeshiva families. He can sit with generals and with roshei yeshiva. He is trusted in Washington and understood in frum homes. If there is anyone who can bridge this divide without insulting either side, it is him.
Calling in the Board of Peace would not mean giving up sovereignty. It would mean asking for help in building a system that Israel has not been able to build on its own. It would not decide who must enlist and who must not. It would not rewrite laws. What it would do is prevent disagreement from turning into disorder.
There is another reason this matters: דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום. The ways of Torah are pleasant, and its paths are peace. That is not a slogan for calm times. It is a demand for moments of tension.
Running after Jewish soldiers, humiliating them, and burning police vehicles is not protest. It is chilul Hashem. It weakens the Torah world. It harms innocent people. It damages the entire nation.
At the same time, ignoring the fears and frustrations inside the chareidi community is also wrong. People feel unheard. They feel targeted. They feel that decisions are made about them without them. That resentment builds until it explodes.
Israel does not need more speeches. It needs a structure that works.
The Board of Peace was created for places where politics has failed and systems have collapsed. Inviting the Board in, with Jared Kushner playing a central role, would be a step toward rebuilding trust, restoring order, and preventing future disasters.
And that, more than any statement, would be a true kiddush Hashem.
Signed,
Ilan Arterman, PhD
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One Response
Sociologically, this behavior is typical for third world countries, or poor uneducated enclaves within normal countries, where a false rumor can call multitudes to action without any leadership to control them. That this could happen in the towns ostensibly full of Torah, and despite Talmidei Chachomim telling their students to stay away, is a call for self-reflection.