Liberman Lifts Objection to Coalition With Haredi Parties, Report Says, as Opposition Courts UTJ

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has dropped his long-standing veto on forming a government with the haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, parties, opening the door for the opposition bloc to begin discussions with United Torah Judaism, N12's Amit Segal reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the bloc is discussing the possibility of drafting a more lenient military conscription law. The question of drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the military has been one of Liberman's central demands, and he has made a conscription law for the haredim part of his stated set of principles.

Yisrael Beytenu denied the report in a statement to The Jerusalem Post. "We are not aware of any such thing. Nothing has changed since the briefing was given," the party stated.

The reported shift emerged on the same day that United Torah Judaism, a longtime coalition partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to recommend a candidate for prime minister to President Isaac Herzog during the party's consultation with the president earlier on Thursday.

UTJ's decision to abstain comes amid reported tensions between the haredi party and Netanyahu, and it benefits the opposition bloc seeking to replace him. Opposition party leaders have recently signaled greater openness to including the haredi parties in their coalition. Until now, Liberman's veto had stood as one of the obstacles to such contacts.

Liberman has long maintained that he would not join a government with Netanyahu, and he has also ruled out any dependence on the Arab parties. During a press briefing on Tuesday, he rejected the option of joining a unity government with Netanyahu, along with the option of a minority government that would be reliant on support from the Arab parties.

His stance regarding joining a coalition with the haredi parties, however, appeared to be more lenient. Ahead of the elections, he had drawn a red line to any partnership with them. Liberman stated on Tuesday that whoever would accept his set of principles and a conscription law to draft the haredim, he would "have no problem with."

The remarks suggested that, under the right conditions, the Yisrael Beytenu leader would be prepared to sit alongside the ultra-Orthodox factions he had previously ruled out, even as his party insisted on Thursday that nothing had changed. The story was still developing.