The following is an adaptation of a Hebrew-language letter addressed to radio host Tali Lipkin-Shahak from IDF Radio.

Shalom Tali,

In reaction to your interview with Minister Dan Meridor this morning on IDF Radio (Wednesday, October 7, at

The most important thing is to make sure not to upset the very sensitive, downtrodden and miserable Arabs.

around 9:10 AM), in which you suggested that one should "limit the freedom of speech" of the "tiny group of [fringe right-wing extremist] Jews who call for the building of the Temple" and thus incite the Arabs to violence, I would like to propose an idea you might adopt.

Why don't you suggest making the Jewish siddur (prayerbook) illegal for its "inciteful" and "seditious" content? As I assume you know, a very large portion of the prayers talk about our hope, longing, need and obligation to rebuild the Temple.

No, it is not a few "Jewish extremists" who talk about rebuilding the Temple, as you claimed, but millions of Jews, in Israel and abroad, who pray three times a day - and who mean every word they say.

Sheyibane Beit HaMikdash bimheirah biyameinu ("May the Temple be built speedily in our days") is not an empty slogan we proclaim, but a goal we seek and towards which we are working.

Yibane HaMikdash - Ir Tzion timalei, vesham nashir shir chadash uvirnanah na'aleh - "May the Temple be built, the city of Zion made full, and there we will sing a new song and with joyous singing we will go up." This is another example of a sentence said by millions every day (God have mercy!).

So Tali, as someone who seems to be very much worried about the rights of the unfortunate, violent Arabs - and not about the right of the Jews to their holiest place (which is the Temple Mount and not the Western Wall, as even Minister Meridor pointed out to you in the interview) - you have two options:

1. to propose criminalizing the siddur; or

2. to propose placing millions of Jews in administrative detention for having the chutzpah to pray daily from that inciteful prayerbook, or even to exile them to some isolated island near Australia.

But the most important thing is to make sure not to upset the very sensitive, downtrodden and miserable Arabs.

It is with great sadness that I note that we still have radio hosts in Israel who do not understand that we are at war

The fact that we live here in our Biblical homeland is what protects you Tel Avivians.

with a bitter Arab enemy. That enemy understands very well what the Zionist thinker and poet Uri Zvi Greenberg wrote years ago: "Whoever controls the Temple Mount, controls all of Eretz Israel."

I would love to have a cup of coffee with you one day, and even to give you a tour of areas that you probably never set foot in, "beyond the Forbidden Forest", the mountains of Judea and Samaria, where our forefathers lived and where all of Jewish history took place. From the mountains of Judea and Samaria, we who live here watch over you down there in Gush Dan. The fact that we live here in our Biblical homeland is what protects you Tel Avivians and prevents you from being bombarded by Arab Katyushas and missiles.

With warm wishes for a happy Sukkot holiday and fervent, honest prayer that G-d will give us the opportunity to rebuild our Temple on the Temple Mount, speedily in our days,

Nadia Matar