Nadia Sawalha threatens ITV with legal action over Loose Women removal

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, 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".

Sawalha 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 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'."

The controversy, she alleges, prompted ITV to remove her on repeated occasions from the line-up of its long-running lunchtime programme.

"ITV have continued to take me on and off Loose Women, forever changing the goalposts whilst also saying they couldn't guarantee they wouldn't take me off again as it would depend on what was said," she said.

Sawalha added that she was "hired for being an opinionated woman on a discussion show and I've never brought up or spoken about Palestine directly on the show".

The presenter also said she wanted to express "how sad I am that it's got to this - believe me, I have appealed to ITV's hearts and minds, but to no avail".

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC), which supports pro-Palestinian cases, has written to ITV on her behalf, alleging she has been discriminated against because of her "anti-Zionist beliefs, which are protected under the Equality Act 2010".

Sawalha has appeared regularly on the daytime panel show, which sees four female media personalities discuss topical subjects, since 2013.

She also had an earlier stint on the panel between 1999 and 2002, shortly after playing Annie Palmer in EastEnders.

Her other TV credits include Casualty and The Bill, and she is also a former winner of Celebrity MasterChef.