Israeli PM suffers setback in vote on Arab citizenship rights law

Parliament fails to renew law barring Arab citizens from extending citizenship rights to spouses

The Israeli parliament has voted down an extension to controversial legislation that bars Arab Israelis from extending residency or citizenship rights to Palestinian spouses, in an early blow to the country's new coalition government.

After a marathon all-night voting session that ended on Tuesday morning, the Knesset decided not to renew the law in a 59-59 vote. The outcome is widely seen as a stinging defeat for the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who failed to unite the coalition's disparate ideological wings in what he reportedly himself referred to as a referendum" on the new government.