An Israeli soldier and a civilian have been indicted for using classified intelligence to bet on the likelihood of Israel carrying out military actions, authorities said on Thursday.
Other suspects, including reservists, have been arrested in the investigation, which was undertaken by police and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency. Much of the case is still under a gag order.
A joint statement said the suspects placed their bets on the gambling website Polymarket, “based on classified information to which the reservists were exposed by virtue of their position in the army”.
News of the indictments comes a week after the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that security agencies were looking into reports that such bets were being made, including on the first strike of Israel's war with Iran in June last year.
A report by the broadcaster in January said one user made a profit of about $150,000 from betting on Israeli operations during the 12-day conflict. The joint police-Shin Bet statement did not specify which military activities were bet on.
It said authorities regard “the acts attributed to the defendants with utmost severity”. The news comes as Polymarket experiences a spike in bets related to the possibility of a war between the US and Iran, in which Israel would probably play a role.
