Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has dropped his veto on forming a government with haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, opening the door for the opposition bloc to begin discussions with United Torah Judaism (UTJ), N12's Amit Segal reported on Thursday
The bloc is reportedly discussing the possibility of drafting a more lenient military conscription law.
UTJ, 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 earlier on Thursday.
UTJ's decision to abstain came 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 haredi parties in their coalition.
Liberman has long maintained he would not join gov't with Netanyahu, Arab parties
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.
During the Monday briefing, Liberman ruled out joining a unity government with Netanayhu, along with the option of a minority government that would be reliant on support from the Arab parties. However, his stance regarding joining a coalition with Shas and UTJ appeared to be more lenient.
Liberman stated that whoever would accept his set of principles and a conscription law to draft the haredim, he would "have no problem with."
This is a developing story.