London Rally Demands Burnham Impose Arms Embargo on Israel
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- Thousands of protesters marched through London on Saturday demanding that incoming PM Andy Burnham impose an arms embargo on Israel and pressure Tel Aviv to end its war on Gaza, which the source says has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
- Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, led the march and said on X that after three years of genocide, the movement for justice and accountability in Britain and worldwide is 'growing louder and stronger.'
- Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, expelled from the party by Starmer, attended the rally and told Burnham to 'end Britain's complicity in genocide, now,' adding that protesters 'are not disappearing, we are not going away.'
- Burnham's Labour Party is set to officially make him the UK's next prime minister on Monday, but the party is contending with an exodus of members over its 'lacklustre response to Gaza,' according to the source.
- Outgoing PM Keir Starmer's government continued supplying weapons to Israel despite what critics call mounting evidence of war crimes, taking only symbolic measures such as sanctioning far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
- Burnham will inherit a cost-of-living crisis, spiralling student debt, and a shortage of affordable housing alongside the Gaza backlash awaiting him in office.
Why it matters: With Burnham taking office Monday, protesters are explicitly positioning Gaza as a first-week test of his leadership — and with Labour already losing members over Starmer's continued arms sales, Burnham faces a direct choice between shoring up the party's eroding base or sustaining the status quo on Israel policy.
