Iftach Spector’s family immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the twentieth century. His father and mother both served in the Palmach, Israel’s early clandestine commando force, which led to the death of his father during World War II when Spector was seven months old. After the Sinai War of 1956, sixteen-year-old Spector knew he wanted to be a fighter pilot and looked forward to his induction. He started his pilot training in 1958, and two years later had his wings in the Israeli Air Force.After the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, during which he commanded a squadron of fighter-bombers, he continued his service to his country for three decades, rising to head the Israeli Air Force’s Training and War Lessons Section and eventually becoming its chief of operations. During these years he downed twelve MiG fighters (plus three more as “unit score”), making him one of the aces of jet aviation.The 2003 “Pilots’ Letter,” the famous statement by IAF pilots refusing to take part in unlawful military activities, caused Spector and twenty-seven other pilots to be labeled “refuseniks.” Spector disputed the term—does refusing to commit war crimes make one a refusenik? Nevertheless, it brought Spector’s military career to an end, while also making him one of the most compelling and celebrated defenders of the conscience of the Jewish state. In that battle, as in his previous battles against Egypt’s MiGs, his mother’s constant lesson sustained him: “All from within.”Spector has written a rich and reflective meditation on loyalty, on what is right and wrong in war, and on his dedication to the idea and reality of the state of Israel. His maverick conscience informs this artfully written memoir, already a bestseller in Israel in its original Hebrew edition.