London rally demands Burnham impose Israel arms embargo
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- Protesters marched through London on Saturday demanding incoming PM Andy Burnham impose an arms embargo on Israel and pressure its government to end the siege and war on Gaza.
- Gaza's death toll since October 2023 has surpassed 73,000 Palestinians, the figure cited by demonstrators to frame the protest's urgency.
- Labour Party under outgoing PM Keir Starmer continued supplying weapons to Israel despite evidence of war crimes, with critics accusing the government of taking only symbolic measures — sanctioning far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
- Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, led the march and said "three years of ongoing genocide" have only made the movement for justice "growing louder and stronger."
- Jeremy Corbyn, expelled from Labour by Starmer, attended the rally and urged Burnham to "end Britain's complicity in genocide, now."
- Andy Burnham is set to officially become UK prime minister on Monday and faces an "exodus of party members" over Labour's Gaza response alongside a cost-of-living crisis, student debt, and housing shortage.
Why it matters: Burnham takes office Monday with activists already publicly demanding a sharp break from Starmer's arms-sales posture toward Israel. Maintaining the current stance risks accelerating the party-member exodus the source flags, while demonstrators signaled the pressure campaign is intensifying rather than fading after three years of war.
