Israeli author and university professor Yuval Noah Harari said that most Israelis have moved on from the two-state solution in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
Harari, who is best known for his best-selling books Sapiens, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, said that "a lot of the Israeli public has gradually switched from the belief in the two-state-solution to an implicit belief in the 'three-classes-solution.'"
Harari also lectures at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has given interviews with media outlets abroad and on American late-night talk shows, largely due to the worldwide success and appeal of his books.
In interview to CNN today, @harari_yuval says:"A lot in the Israeli public has gradually switched from a belief in the TSS to an implicit belief in the '3 Classes Solution' that you have just one country between the Jordan and Med, with 3 classes of people: 1/2 pic.twitter.com/MKEMgEyDyI
— Ami Kaufman (@AmiKaufman) November 23, 2022
"You have just one country, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean with three classes of people living there. Jews, who have all the rights; some Arabs, who have some rights; and other Arabs, who have very little or no rights," the Israeli author continued. "This is increasingly also the aspiration, or mindset of some people even in the government."
Harari is likely referring to the results of the most recent Israeli election, where a combined coalition of Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and the Religious Zionist Party would see one of the most religious-right-wing governments in Israeli history.
"You have just one country, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean with three classes of people living there. Jews, who have all the rights; some Arabs, who have some rights; and other Arabs, who have very little or no rights."
Yuval Noah Harari
Criticism of his comments
With the comments he gave on CNN, Harari garnered much social media backlash.
One Twitter user said that the three-class system that Harari claims is not in the mind of most Israelis.
"Do we have a single poll asking that question? Or is it just Harari's gut feeling? As a historian, he wrote with broad strokes," the user tweeted.
"It’s not solvable with the current political system that allows governments to be changed all the time," another user wrote. "No serious peace plan can be thought out and implemented. Six elections in the last three years alone. Maybe designed this way."