Dani Dayan on the BBC. Photo: Screenshot.

Dani Dayan, a settler leader who is backing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the country’s upcoming elections, told the BBC’s “Hardtalk” news program that the two-state solution is a “mirage.”

“The fact is that Israel is beginning to understand that the two-state solution—the two -state formula—never existed, it was a mirage—a fata morgana–that as you get closer to it you reveal that it was just hot air. And not because of Israel, not because of the settlers, but because of the refusal of the Palestinians to accept it,” Dayan said.

Dayan also said that agrees with Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett that a large portion of the West Bank should be annexed by Israel , but that he doesn’t envision it happening anytime soon because he doesn’t “think in the coming elections a majority of Israelis will decide that.”

Watch a video of the interview here.