Polymarket, the largest crypto prediction market in the world, is under fire after bettors allegedly sent death threats to Times of Israel military reporter Emanuel Fabian.
A Bombing Report Turned Into A Bombing Of Threats
A routine war report from Emanuel Fabian for The Times of Israel on Monday triggered a bombarding of harrasment for the journalist. After reporting that an Iranian ballistic missile âstruck an open areaâ near Beit Shemesh on March 10, he was bombarded with messages, including explicit death threats, urging him to rewrite the article as âintercepted fragmentsâ, claims WuBlockchain.
No injuries are reported in Iranâs latest ballistic missile attack on Israel, the fourth today.
One missile struck an open area just outside Beit Shemesh, first responders say and footage shows.
Sirens had sounded across the Jerusalem area, the West Bank, and parts of southern⌠pic.twitter.com/j6sovAsDwz
â Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 10, 2026
More than $14 million were bet on whether Iran would strike Israel on that exact date, with rules stating that intercepted missiles would not count as a âYesâ result. Bettors contacted Fabian via email and WhatsApp, in some cases revealing knowledge of his home and family, and even offering bribes in exchange for edits before escalating to threats. According to Binance Square, one bettor claimed Fabianâs wording cost them around $900,000, and threatened the journalist with âsettlingâ him for the same amount if he didnât change his report.
A photo taken on March 16, 2026, shows a bet on Polymarket titled âIran strikes Israel onâŚ?â Source: Emanuel Fabian for The Israel Times.
Clarifying The Facts
Fabian defended himself citing IDF information and footage of the blast, arguing that the explosion matched a full warhead detonation, not small interceptor debris:
I told Aviv that, from what I know from the Israeli military, the impact outside Beit Shemesh was indeed a missile warhead and not just fragments. I added: âThe footage also shows a massive explosion of hundreds of kilograms of explosives from the warhead. Normally, a fragment does not produce such an explosion.â
Ironically enough, the IDF later confirmed that the missile which exploded in an open area outside Beit Shemesh had not been intercepted, with Fabianâs own reporting that âone missile struck an open area just outside Beit Shemeshâ treats it as a direct hit, not debris from an interceptor.
Enraged Polymarket bettors, of course, didnât take the clarification into account.
Another âCrypto Degen Casinoâ Accusation
Fabian echoed accusations of Polymarket âbeing plagued by manipulation and insider tradingâ. This is not the first time this week that Polymarket is accused of insider trading: just yesterday, Argentinian authorities ordered a full national ban of Polymarket after it âpredictedâ inflation data back in February.
Polymarket responded condemning the behavior, said it had banned the involved accounts, and pledged to hand over identifying information to lawâenforcement agencies:
Polymarket condemns the harassment and threats directed at Emanuel Fabian, or anyone else for that matter. This behavior violates our terms of service and has no place on our platform or anywhere else.
Polymarket condemns the harassment & threats directed at Emanuel Fabian â or anyone else for that matter.
This behavior violates our Terms of Service & has no place on our platform. Weâve banned the accounts for all involved & will pass their info to the relevant authorities.
â Polymarket (@Polymarket) March 16, 2026
This episode follows earlier concerns around alleged insider trading on Iranâstrike markets and controversial resolutions on other highâstakes political bets, raising fresh questions about governance, ethics, and oracles in crypto prediction markets.
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