Dozens of Israelis from the country’s security, political and cultural elite have threatened legal action against their government over support for Jewish terrorism and an “ideology of ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank, according to a leaked letter.

Two former prime ministers, former heads of all Israeli security services, former judges, a Nobel laureate and the country’s most revered living novelist were among the signatories to a “final warning” over violence against Palestinians.

They demanded immediate action to “eradicate Jewish terrorism”, cataloguing years of attacks including murder, sexual assault, theft, arson and desecration of the dead, by civilian and military perpetrators who act with “almost complete impunity”.

The campaign of extreme violence against Palestinians breaks Israeli and international law, puts Israel’s security at risk, isolates the country internationally and fuels antisemitism around the world, they said.

“This letter is a wake-up call and a final warning: We demand that you take all necessary measures to immediately eradicate Jewish terrorism that has been prevalent in Judea and Samaria in recent years,” the letter said, using an Israeli term for the occupied West Bank.

If the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence and security ministers and security commanders do not condemn and stop the violence, the signatories say they will petition Israel’s high court to force their hand.

The letter, which has not been made public, was sent to the prime minister’s office, ministries of defence and national security, the military, police, intelligence services. A copy was seen by the Guardian.

Signatories now raising the alarm about violence against Palestinians include commanders who led Israeli forces in occupied Palestine, and politicians who presided over years of settlement expansion.

Their acute sense of crisis is not reflected in the broader public debate in Israel as unofficial campaigning gets under way for elections due by the end of October.

The letter accused Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners, who are expected to seek another term in power together, of enabling attacks on Palestinians to further an extremist agenda of ethnic cleansing and annexation.

“This is not solely a military and police failure, but the implementation of an overt policy by the Israeli government and its prime minister in general, and by the relevant ministers in particular,” the letter said.

“[They order the military, the police, and Shin Bet [internal security agency] to enable the terrorism of Jewish criminals, because this horrendous phenomenon serves well the current government’s ideology of carrying out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the territories of Judea and Samaria to facilitate their future annexation.”

The letter also drew parallels with historic attacks on Jewish communities in Europe. “The crimes of Jewish terrorism in the territories are reminiscent of similar crimes and pogroms committed against our people by other nations in eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Israel’s military is complicit in this campaign of terror, through a failure to intervene and active participation in violence, the letter said.

Attackers have included members of regional defence units, men in partial uniform, and men who were not in active service but carried weapons they got from the Israeli military or national security ministry.

“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has clear policy of ignoring the crimes of Jewish terrorism, and in many incidents soldiers from the regional defense units and [settlement] security squads are themselves involved in the crimes of Jewish terrorism,” the letter said.

Since 2020, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, at least a quarter of whom were children, UN data shows. No one has been charged over any of these deaths.

The attacks jeopardise Israeli security because they risk spurring Palestinian revenge attacks or even an uprising, or intifada, against Israeli occupation, the group warned.

Many signatories have previously denounced violence in the West Bank in public statements. However this letter, drafted and sent by the lawyer Shmuel Berkowitz, brought together a broader group, linked the violence to soldiers as well as settlers, and for the first time threatened legal action.

Signatories include two former prime ministers, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, four former ministers whose portfolios included defence and justice, and more than 30 former security commanders including two chiefs of staff for Israel’s military and heads of the Mossad, Shin Bet and the police.

Prominent figures from outside politics and the security sector include the novelist David Grossman, the Nobel chemistry laureate David Kornberg, an Oscar winner and 10 Israel Prize award winners.

From the legal system there is a former attorney general, judges and senior legal advisers to the government. From academia, signatories include the former CEO of Tel Aviv University and an expert on international terror. There are also rabbis and former ambassadors.

The letter said recent condemnations of violence by political and military leaders were not credible without action.

“How come you have not been successful in eradicating Jewish terror, given that the identity of their leaders and their places of residence are well known to you, and they are estimated to number a few hundred [people]?” said one section addressed directly to Gene Avi Bluth, commanding officer in the occupied West Bank.

The letter warned of government financial, political and legal support for violence and a culture of impunity, with the Israeli police and military each claiming the other has jurisdiction to prosecute attackers.

The letter took direct aim at Netanyahu, noting that his claim last year that settler violence was the work of a few dozen teenagers has “no basis in reality”.

There were questions for other officials including the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the defence minister, Israel Katz, the chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, Shin Bet’s head, David Zini, and the police commissioner, Daniel Levy.

The rime minister’s office, the defence and national security ministries, the police and the Israeli military were approached for comment on the letter but did not respond.