MK Ophir Pines-Paz, chair of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, on Wednesday blasted the plan by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to reinstate the "marriage blacklist."

Friedmann and the rabbinate had agreed to legalize the establishment of lists of citizens whom the rabbinate deems barred from marrying, as part of legislation permitting civil marriage between non-Jews.

"We had no doubt there was some secret deal between the justice minister and the rabbinate. This sets us back many years," Pines-Paz said.

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Rabbi Amar's spokesman declined to comment. The draft prepared by the Justice Ministry and rabbinate, and approved by Friedmann and Amar, contains a clause which proposes "for reasons of efficiency, to legalize the preservation of information gathered at the rabbinical court regarding the non-Jewishness of a religionless person, and information regarding a person's eligibility for marrying in accordance with Jewish law, in a database."

The proposed database is among the mainstays of the bill, referenced no fewer than three times in the draft, including in the preamble explaining the objective of the law. There are additional details later in the draft about the operation of "the marriageability registry," including the decision that it will be run by the director of the rabbinical courts.

The database will include "information regarding eligibility, lack of eligibility or restrictions on the eligibility of a person to marry in accordance with Jewish law." The draft bill does not contain any regulations obliging the rabbinate to inform individuals entered in the database of their status.