Prosecutors have filed an indictment against a civilian and an IDF reservist for allegedly using classified operational information to place bets on military actions via the Polymarket website, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
The Tel Aviv District Court lifted a gag order at the request of the State Attorney’s Office cyber department, which said the reservist accessed the information through his army role and shared it with the civilian for wagering purposes.
According to a court-approved paraphrase requested by the prosecution, the suspects were arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet, the Arazim investigations unit within the Defense Ministry’s Security Authority (Malmab), and Israel Police.
Following investigations by Malmab and the Shin Bet, prosecutors decided to bring them to trial on serious security offenses, bribery, and obstruction of justice.
The case follows reporting that Israeli authorities were examining whether insider information had been used to profit from prediction markets tied to Israeli operations in Iran in June 2025.
Experts and commentators have warned that online prediction markets can be abused with insider information and monitored by hostile actors, raising operational security concerns for democracies. Israeli authorities have also confronted a series of security and cyber cases in recent years, underscoring the sensitivity of data flows connected to national defense.
The prosecution’s statement reiterated that the two defendants are not senior officials in any security or other government body. The court did not release further identifying details due to legal restrictions.
“Our client is a highly regarded individual who has made a significant contribution to Israel’s security. Due to the broad gag order, we cannot at this stage address the matter in detail, only clarify what it does not contain,” the defendant’s attorney stated.
“We have strong arguments regarding the indictment that was filed, the defects in it, selective enforcement, and the improper and severe conduct of the investigative bodies, which itself caused harm to security. We are convinced that once these are presented, the case will conclude in a manner entirely different from how it began.”
The IDF condemned the reservist, stating his actions constituted “a serious ethical failure and a clear crossing of a red line, which are inconsistent with the IDF’s values and the standards expected of its service members.”
“We clarify that, according to the investigation’s findings, no operational harm was caused in the present incident.”