I spent close to 40 years working as a public servant for the state of Israel, including as commander of the navy and head of the Shin Bet, protecting Israel and defending it from external and internal threats. Several weeks ago, along with 17 other colleagues who have also dedicated their lives to Israel’s security and welfare, I made a decision that the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is so under threat that it is not just my responsibility, but obligation, to sound the alarm.

The 18 of us took out a full-page advert in two major Israeli broadsheet papers. In it, we made clear that the very fabric of the state of Israel and the values on which it was founded are being eroded. The truth is that our hostages in Gaza have been abandoned in favour of the government’s messianic ideology and by a prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu who is desperate to cling to power for his own personal gain. Our government is undermining the democratic functions of the state to shore up and protect its own power. It is forcing us into a perpetual war with no achievable military objectives and which can only result in more loss of life and hatred.

And we are not the minority. The overwhelming majority of the Israeli public agree with us – 70% believe there needs to be a comprehensive end to the war in return for bringing our hostages home, and an election as soon as possible so that this government can be replaced. Since we took out our advert, we have been joined by thousands of pilots, navy officers, members of the intelligence and reservists, all of whom, in their own letters to the government, have expressed the same sentiments as our advert did.

I suppose someone will call this “antisemitic.”