Eyal Zamir has already heard: one of the next IDF Chiefs of Staff will come from this room
Brigadier General (res.) Yuval Bezek elaborated during an interview on 103FM regarding the unique "Erez" program he heads: "We accompany the officers throughout their professional path out of shared responsibility."
Brigadier General (res.) Yuval Bezek spoke during an interview on 103FM about the "Erez" program, which he heads. It is the longest combat training program in the IDF.
"We look at these cadets as those who are destined to be the next generals and Chiefs of Staff of the IDF, those who will build and change the army and make it better. In a conversation with the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Eyal Zamir, I told him that perhaps the Chief of Staff of the year 2055 or 2060 is sitting in this room."
"We accompany the officers throughout their professional path out of shared responsibility with the brigades; it is a marriage for life," he said. "The best leaders need to be at the spearhead of the ground battalions, where the soldiers who fight in the most difficult conditions are, and that is where we direct our graduates."
He continued to explain the major goals of the special program: "An essential part of the 'Erez' idea is to give future commanders a deep education and an understanding that the army is a profession whose foundations must be studied deeply, just as one studies medicine. We teach them military history and security at a very high level, which gives them a unique perspective and a sense of humility from the understanding that they are part of a 3,000-year-old event."
He further added: "The goal is to develop critical and open-minded commanders who know how to learn not only from personal experience but also from study and the experience of others, tools that will serve them as they advance up the command ladder to the most senior positions."
Second Lieutenant Itay Yavetz, 21, from Modiin, fell in battle in Rafah in October 2025. Itay Yavetz was a cadet in the first cycle of the prestigious "Erez" military program, which identifies candidates for military service and trains them in a unique track for officership in the IDF Ground Forces, with the project's goal being to significantly improve the command structure of the Ground Forces.
The fall of Itay Yavetz exposed the unique project to the public, as he was in the final stages of the track before leaving for the officers' course at Bahad 1. Itay began the program together with 70 other cadets in September 2023, just one month before October 7.
Lieutenant Colonel K., commander of the Erez program, says: "The program opened a month before the war. Today we are in the third cycle and we are in the process of selecting for the fourth cycle. The program, a command program for leadership, to train a high-quality generation of officers, provides the best training in all aspects. The program is very long, takes people at a very young stage, and takes them through a long process."
