J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami.

Barukh Binah, deputy chief of the Israeli mission in Washington, DC, told J Street conference audience members on Monday that they should consider Israel’s precarious situation before criticizing the country’s policies.

“Unlike your secure existence at these happy shores, at our borders there are missiles and mayhem,” Binah told the crowd.

“Unlike you, sometimes we have to make decisions of life and death,” he said. “We welcome your opinion, but we must pay the ultimate price. We have no margins of error. We need you to stand with us.”