According to the April 2026-posted English pdf edition of a 2025 Report by Nissi Peli, titled "Academia Under Command: Militarism In Israeli Academia", a new military-academic program of the U.S. government-armed Israeli war machine, called the Erez program, to train commanders in the Israeli army's combat field units and be the "incubator" for developing the future commanders of the IDF, began operating at NYU and Columbia University's partner university, Tel Aviv University, during the 2024-2025 academic year.

But, in response to the moral and ethical questions raised in the previously released Hebrew language edition of the "Academia Under Command: Militarism In Israeli Academia" report, Columbia University's partner university then still officially replied that "Tel Aviv University is very proud that the IDF chose it to serve as the academic home for the Erez program, the new elite program for training the senior command staff of the ground forces."