Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha has threatened to take legal action against ITV, claiming the network dropped her for speaking out in support of Palestinian rights.

A legal organisation representing her has sent a pre-action letter to ITV, claiming the broadcaster "subjected Nadia to direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment because of her protected philosophical beliefs".

In an Instagram video, external, Sawalha said she had become "the target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed from Loose Women".

She added: "Since then, ITV have taken me on and off Loose Women a number of times." BBC News has asked ITV for comment.

The presenter said she "began speaking publicly in support of Palestine in December 2023", two months after the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

She said she was "speaking out against brutal oppression", but her critics have accused her of promoting false claims and conspiracies about Israel and Jewish people.

A group of Jewish executives in the entertainment industry recently sent a dossier to ITV, urging the channel not to reinstate her, citing what they called "repeated examples of conspiratorial rhetoric, inflammatory commentary, disinformation, and antisemitic discourse".

She said she hadn't had a chance to see the document and answer the accusations, but has denied antisemitism.

Two newspapers that previously accused Sawalha and her husband of antisemitism and supporting terrorism have since issued apologies and paid damages, external to the couple.

In her video on Thursday, Sawalha said she had "mostly been told" by ITV that "the reason for [my removal] was, and I quote, 'It's all a bit noisy out there for us'."

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