The responses to the threat of boycotts against Israel reveal not just the gaps in positions between the right and the left, but the substantive difference between the operating systems of the two sides. It’s an unbridgeable existential psychological gap, like two languages that have no common linguistic denominator.

On the one hand, the leftist camp is in a panic from the sanctions that have been imposed thus far, and from those that may yet come. Without minimizing the importance of the disturbing way Israel is being perceived in the West, it’s not unfounded to say that the left is engaged in magnifying the threats and marketing them vigorously. Face it − most Israelis, even the most leftist among them, had never heard of the Dutch pension fund PGGM or even of the Horizon 2020 agreement until they became symbols of Israel-bashing.

This exaggeration stems in part from the deep shame felt by the Israeli left − which sees itself as part of the liberal West, with its values of freedom − over our isolationist right-wing government, but it comes primarily from the fear of a decreased quality of life. It’s no coincidence that supporters of an agreement with the Palestinians are being represented right now on billboards by a hundred of the economy’s business leaders. Fear of harm to one’s quality of life is the domain of the satisfied.

On the other hand, the right, led by senior Israeli government officials, is trying to minimize the threats and dismiss their importance. They’re not doing this just to derail the negotiations and avoid an agreement − those would be the results of the right-wing worldview, not what perpetuates it. The right believes that the boycott threats are no more than another link in an ancient anti-Semitic genealogical chain, and a rather marginal one at that. To their mind, the real threat facing Israel is the threat of destruction, pure and simple, and the boycott threat is secondary.

Despite displays of power and an aggressive policy of “creating facts on the ground” culminating in the settlement enterprise, the right-wing operating system is fueled by a constant fear of annihilation and death. The right waives in advance any aspiration to morality or to a life in a liberal and prosperous country like the ones threatening to denunciate Israel, because as far as the right is concerned Israel and the Jewish people are still engaged in a war for life itself. This dictates living in survival mode, and justifies the use of violence and the violation of international law when necessary. The right doesn’t see Israel as a legitimate society, an equal member of the family of nations, but a minority state suffering persecution and discrimination that must defend its basic subsistence at all costs. The struggle for survival is the domain of the hungry.

This context makes Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s response to the boycott threats especially interesting. At the Munich Security Conference this past weekend, Ya’alon said that while he hopes an agreement will be reached with the Palestinians, “even if there is no agreement, we’ll manage.” Ya’alon, who in the past was identified with the Labor Party but changed his mind and moved rightward, represents many Israelis who are not necessarily the natural partners of the alliance of ideological and social underdogs who first brought the right to power here in 1977.

The buses exploding in downtown Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, the crushed bodies and rivers of blood cracked for many Israelis the utopian vision of an end to the occupation and a good life in Israel, in whose name they voted for Yitzhak Rabin in 1992. The right’s nightmare vision took shape instead, and “managing the conflict,” despite the heavy price and moral impropriety, was favored over attempts to resolve it. Efforts to survive looked more logical than any hope of making life better. Hunger trumped satisfaction.

Christiane Amanpour did not understand why Naftali Bennett waved a 2,000-year-old coin at her instead of answering her questions about the settlements. John Kerry does not understand why Israelis are not flocking to embrace his peace initiative. Go explain to them now what it means to be a right-wing Jew.