Australia’s most decorated living war veteran is suing three newspapers for libel over claims about his time fighting in Afghanistan.
Ben Roberts-Smith, 42, has begun legal proceedings against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times over articles they published in 2018.
The defamation trial against Nine Entertainment, who owned all three papers at the time, began at Sydney‘s Federal Court on Monday.
Bruce McClintock, Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyer, told the court his client’s reputation had been destroyed by “corrosive jealousy” and “bitter people” who had run a “poisonous campaign against him”.
Mr McClintock said other soldiers had been “enormously jealous” about the honours awarded to Mr Roberts-Smith – which include the Victoria Cross – and had sought revenge with claims he “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement”.
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He said the former Special Air Service Regiment corporal risked his life during tours between 2009 and 2012, making specific reference to the “selfless valour” he demonstrated during an incident in Kandahar province in 2010.
Mr McClintock said he had showed “total disregard for his own safety”, engaging insurgents at point-blank range and managing to kill a number of them.
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He added that during the trial his client will deny all claims of bullying other soldiers and that an insurgent killed was under 14-years-old.
Nine Entertainment, which is a rival company of Seven West Media where Mr Roberts-Smith is an executive, will plead the truth defence.
Around 39,000 Australians have served in Afghanistan, with 41 killed in combat.
What’s unfolding in the Palestinian village of Ras al-Ayn is more than a land dispute – according to human rights groups, it is the systematic displacement of an entire community.
Activists on the ground report a surge in violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers aimed at driving Palestinian families from their homes.
Footage captured by Rachel Abramovitz, a member of the group Looking The Occupation In The Eye, shows activists trying to block settlers from seizing control of the village centre.
Image: Palestinians say they are being forced off their land by intimidation
“They gradually invade the community and expand. The goal is to terrorise people, to make them flee,” Ms Abramovitz said.
Our visit comes as Israel said it would establish 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank – including new settlements and the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation.
The settler movement traces back to 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War.
Settlements began as small, often unofficial outposts. Over the decades, they’ve grown into towns and cities with state-provided infrastructure, roads, and security.
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Today, 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in communities considered illegal under international law – a designation Israel disputes.
Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent 19-month military bombardment of Gaza, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated sharply.
According to the UN and human rights groups such as B’Tselem, the overwhelming number of these attacks are carried out with impunity, further pressuring Palestinians to flee.
Image: Salaam Ka’abneh says they face daily assaults
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Nine of Gazan doctor’s children killed
Salaam Ka’abneh, a lifelong resident of the Bedouin village of Ras al-Ayn in the Jordan Valley, says his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years. He fears they could be forced to leave.
Mr Ka’abneh said: “About a year and four months ago, settlers cut off our access to water and grazing land. They also stole more than 2,000 sheep from us in the Tel Al-Auja compound. We face daily assaults, day and night.
“They terrorise our children and women, throwing stones, firing bullets, and creating chaos with their vehicles. We are under siege. We no longer have access to pasture or water, and our sheep remain caged.”
Footage from the area shows settlers driving freely through Palestinian communities, some armed.
While the Israeli army officially governs Area C of the West Bank, where Ras al-Ayn is located, human rights groups say settler violence almost always goes unchecked.
Under international law, an occupying power is obligated to protect civilians under its control. But Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, says Israel is failing to uphold its responsibility.
“Israel doesn’t hold settlers accountable. On the contrary – settlers know that if they act violently, they’ll receive support from all branches of the government. There’s full impunity. In fact, it’s more accurate to say settlers function as a branch of the government.
“It’s daylight robbery of land – sanctioned by Israeli authorities,” Michaeli continues.
“And it amounts to ethnic cleansing – displacing large parts of the Palestinian population to make the area available for Israeli use.”
To understand more, we travelled to a hilltop outpost occupied by settlers overlooking Salaam’s village. But we did not get far. Our car was quickly surrounded, and the atmosphere turned hostile.
Image: Salaam Ka’abneh and his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years
It was clear: we were not welcome. We left with no answers but with a deeper understanding of the fear these Palestinian communities live with daily.
International pressure is growing. The British government recently imposed sanctions on several settlers, including Daniella Weiss.
Known as the ‘godmother’ of the settler movement, Weiss has been a key figure in expanding settlements across the West Bank.
“There will never be a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Never,” Weiss declares. “We annex with facts on the ground. The goal is to block any possibility of a Palestinian state in the heartland of Israel.
“If Netanyahu wanted to stop me, he could.”
The Israeli government calls allegations of ethnic cleansing “baseless and without foundation”.
But human rights groups argue that what’s happening in the West Bank has gone far beyond creeping annexation.
Palestinian land is rapidly being consumed by settlements, military zones, and settler outposts – shrinking the space in which a future Palestinian state might one day exist.
You can watch a Sky News special programme on the conflict in Gaza on TV and mobile, at 9pm UK time, on Thursday.
A trade court in the US has blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs on imports.
The ruling from a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority, left U.S. trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos.
“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court wrote, referring to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The White House is yet to respond.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.