Jake Wallis Simons

Gaza: Gaza. Completely flattened and destroyed. Over 70,000 dead. Over 20,000 children dead. 90% of residential buildings damaged or destroyed. There is no justification for this. None whatsoever. Thousands of men, women and children have been killed. A place in total ruin. Followed by a ‘new Gaza’ Trump corporate sales pitch at WEF Davos. A monstrosity built on the same site of destruction and mass deaths - with the likes of Tony Blair on the “board of peace”. Grotesque.

Joe Kent, the US counterterrorism chief who resigned on Tuesday over Iran, makes a ferocious attack on Trump’s policy: “Israel drove the decision to take this action… We could have told the Israelis, ‘No you will not’”.

Israel took 15 European ambassadors to show them the damages caused by Iranian missiles in Beit Shemesh area of Tel Aviv. Did these Ambassadors ask Israel why it started the war?

Iran has hit Israel particularly hard today. Yet there is zero footage or photos in my timeline, literally zero.

I’m on my way to Cuba for an emergency 3-day visit. I’ll be delivering medical aid to a children’s cancer hospital and joining an international delegation of MPs opposed to Trump’s new ban on any fuel entering the country. This cruel policy is putting lives at risk. It is an inhumane attempt to strangle the Cuban people. And Trump is even threatening that Cuba could be “next” after Iran. We must take a stand.

Too many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan - which declares there is no god but allah and Muhammad is his messenger - is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. Perform these rituals in mosques if you wish. But they are not welcome in our public places and shared institutions. And given their explicit repudiation of Christianity they certainly do not belong in our churches and cathedrals. I am not suggesting everybody at Trafalgar Square last night is an Islamist. But the domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook. Trafalgar Square belongs to all of us. It is a national memorial to our independence and our salvation. Last night was not like a televised football match or a St Patrick’s Day celebration. It was an act of domination and therefore division. It shouldn’t happen again.

As we focus on Iran and Lebanon, let's not forget what’s happening in the West Bank. In one year, more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced and 240 were killed. There were over 1,700 attacks by Israeli settlers. We must end U.S. military aid to Netanyahu.

'We finally have a prime minister who looks like a world leader again.' James O’Brien thinks Keir Starmer’s recent handling of Trump and the Iran war has 'given him a status of statesmanship’ he lacked before.

"I’m afraid this is true. It’s important to point out, however, that there is obviously nothing wrong with Muslim prayer or our Muslim brothers and sisters in principle." Sorry Sir, but I wholeheartedly disagree! As I've said before.. I have ZERO "Muslim brothers and sisters." Never had, never will.. Neither did my parents or my grandparents or any of the British born Christian Ancestry I have traced going back to the 17th century. And I resent the constant drumbeat suggesting a different narrative from people like Sadiq Kahn & you. Secondly, The only future government I plan to vote for is the one that is prepared to stand up and officially declare that "Islam will NO LONGER be recognized as a religion in the UK since its teachings and values are contrary to those that founded our great country." Sadly, those at the top of the political tree along with media columnists are all proving themselves to be cowards and scared of those "men in dresses" and I'm under no illusion that I and others will still be in political no man's land come the next general election. The degradation continues and only America seems to care enough to say something about it. Our lot are all pansies!