PureGym customers threaten to boycott firm after its CEO says he supports selling arms to Israel

PureGym customers have threatened to boycott the firm after its CEO told Question Time that he 'supported' selling arms to Israel.

The UK government has come under increasing pressure to halt the sale of arms to Israel amid plans from the country's PM Benjamin Netanyahu to invade Rafah.

Yesterday, David Cameron played down the prospect of Britain copying US President Joe Biden's threat to halt arms supplies.

Appearing on the BBC's Question Time, PureGym CEO Humphrey Cobbold told how he was 'deeply concerned' about what is happening in Gaza with more than 34,000 people killed in Israel's bombardment.

However, when asked by host Fiona Bruce whether the UK government should stop supplying weapons to Israel, Cobbold replied: 'I'm not aware of which specific weapons the US is stopping. They've got a lot more weapons they're shipping than we are.

'They've stopped some big bombs which sounds like a very sensible thing to stop doing. I mean a couple of points on that.

'I certainly think any weapons that are required for defence and for the Iron Dome, I see no reason why we wouldn't do that.

'We saw horrendous attacks on Israel from Iran that were dealt with partly by British and American forces as well as we saw and I think defensive weapons should still be allowed to go through.

'On the broader question, we send very little in terms of armaments to Israel in reality. It's the Americans that do that.

'As I stand at the moment, I think we should support in general the Israeli government in being able to defend themselves against… remember Hamas is a prescribed terrorist organisation that has insisted on deciding to eradicate Jews and eradicate Israel and we've got to remember that when we deal with this.

'And that's absolutely not the fault of the Palestinian people in general. They deserve more protection than they're getting I agree with that but we must remember those facts.'

Cobbold's comments have gone viral on social media, with many calling for the business to be boycotted.

Numerous people took to social media to share images of how they have cancelled their membership.  

One person wrote on X: 'I have cancelled my @PureGym membership because their CEO is pro-genocide. To all my followers: please cancel your membership and join another gym.'

Another said: 'If you currently go to @PureGym, you should probably cancel that membership now. Also, why the hell are we asking the CEO of a gym chain for his opinion on Palestine? The Boycott PureGym campaign just launched, anyway.'

A third added: 'A slight inconvenience having to find a new gym after 2 years but well worth it if it means not supporting a company like this @PureGym #BoycottPureGym'