Ultra-Orthodox minister compares secular mayoral candidate in Jerusalem to devil

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has compared Jerusalem’s secular mayoral candidate Ofer Berkovitch to the devil, a video released today shows.

The publication of the remarks by Deri, who heads the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, comes just two days before the runoff for Jerusalem mayor, which will pit Berkovitch against Moshe Lion, the majority of whose support comes from the city’s Haredi population.

“The devil issued a tzav 8 and drafted all his soldiers to my great sorrow. The devil is enlisting everyone,” says Deri in the video released today, referring to an emergency army call-up order.

In the video, which was filmed at a Shas event in Jerusalem last week, Deri also claimed Berkovitch would “desecrate Jerusalem.”

An ultra-Orthodox man stands outside a campaign office for Jerusalem mayoral candidate Ofer Berkovitch in Jerusalem on November 8, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

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