Organiser of planned pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day worked for Keir Starmer until this week
THE organiser of this weekend’s Armistice Day anti-Israel march worked for Sir Keir Starmer until this week, The Sun can reveal.
Ben Soffa is the Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who have led the marches through London for the last four weeks.
Sir Keir had warned Labour MPs they “should not under any circumstances attend any of these events".
Yet until just days ago hard-left Soffa was also the Labour Party’s £61,000 “Head of Digital Organising”.
When confronted by The Sun last night, Labour sources said he had moved on in recent days
But last night his social media accounts still claimed he worked for at the party’s HQ.
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The PSC have been organising marches around the country against Israel’s response to the October 7 atrocities for a month, with Soffa listed as a director of the group since 2013.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has branded them “hate marches” after a slew of terror arrests and antisemtic chanting.
Cops last night said they have made 188 arrests “involving hate crimes or linked to protests in London” since the October 7 attack.
On the day Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,400 Jews, the Manchester PSC branch hailed it as a "heroic move" by "freedom fighters" that "gave us all a glimpse of a liberated Palestine."
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The National PSC later branded the that Manchester PSC’s support for Palestinian resistance as “unacceptable.”
Our revelation came as a Labour frontbencher quit the party over Sir Keir’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Shadow minister Imran Hussain said he was “deeply troubled” by the opposition boss’s stance.
Last night a Labour source said: "We're grateful to Ben for all his work for the party and wish him all the best for the future."
The PSC and Ben Soffa did not respond to requests for comment.
This comes after Rishi Sunak slammed the "disrespectful" pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day, but confirmed it will go ahead after a meeting with Met boss.
The PM today met with Met chief Sir Mark Rowley and said he would be held "accountable" if violence breaks out at Saturday's demonstration.
The pair discussed growing concerns ahead of plans for 700,000 activists to march through Central London and how officers intend to manage crowd control if things turn violent.
In a statement, Sunak said: "Freedom is the right to peacefully protest.
"And the test of that freedom is whether our commitment to it can survive the discomfort and frustration of those who seek to use it, even if we disagree with them.
"We will meet that test and remain true to our principles."
He added: "It's welcome that the police have confirmed that the march will be away from the Cenotaph and they will ensure that the timings do not conflict with any remembrance events.
"There remains the risk of those who seek to divide society using this weekend as a platform to do so. That is what I discussed with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in our meeting.
"The commissioner has committed to keep the Met Police's posture under constant review based on the latest intelligence about the nature of the protests."
It came after Ministers strongly advised organisers of the Gaza march to delay the protest to a less sensitive date.
However, bosses at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign continue to refuse and Sir Mark said yesterday "the threshold to call off the rally hadn’t been reached".
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The Home Office can only ban a march if the Met advises there is a serious risk of violence.
