An Israeli citizen and reserve soldier were indicted on suspicion they used classified information to place bets on military operations using the Polymarket website, according to authorities.
Israeli media said the case was likely linked to an investigation where an anonymous user bet that Israel would strike Iran on the Friday that it did so in June 2025.
A statement by Israel’s defence ministry, Shin Bet internal security service and police after a joint operation said a number of suspects were recently arrested on suspicion of gambling on the website.
“This was allegedly based on classified information to which the reservists were exposed through their military duties,” the statement said.
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Lawyers for those charged were not immediately able to be reached.
Meanwhile, Israel’s police commissioner Danny Levy has said the country is in “a national state of emergency” amid a wave of homicide targeting the country’s Arab minority.
Speaking at a police situation assessment meeting on Thursday, he said: “The war on criminal organisations requires a root cause treatment.”
He called for “immediate harsher punishments,” urging the attorney general to permit the police to utilise advanced antiterror technological tools and to allow the police to draft soldiers for the effort.
Levy also called on Arab politicians and religious figures to unequivocally denounce the violence, stressing that many of the victims are innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of disputes between gangs and warring families.
He was speaking after five Israeli Arabs were killed in separate incidents on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, bringing to 46 the number of Israeli Arabs killed in the first 43 days of the year.
Talal Alkrinawi, the mayor of the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, where one of the murders took place, said this was “a black day” for the entire Arab sector.
“This is the time for me to raise a cry to the Israeli government to convene and declare a state of emergency in the Arab sector. I also call on the national security minister to resign immediately, because we have no security,” he said.
“We are crying out for security. Another murder and another murder, another protest and another strike, and we see no end to this. If there is no security, there is no life.”
In recent weeks, tens of thousands have taken to the streets across Israel to protest over the government’s handling of the crime wave in Israel’s Arab society, with Arab and Jewish Israelis marching together and calling for stronger law enforcement and safer streets.
Following a large rally held last month in the northern Arab city of Sakhnin, representatives of Arab political parties pledged to run together on a joint list in this year’s election and make the campaign to end the violence their number one priority.
Polls show that a joint list will lead to a significant increase in Arab turnout, which is traditionally much lower than the Jewish participation in elections. – Additional reporting Reuters
