An Israeli Air Force officer charged on Monday with allegedly betting in Polymarket over operations conducted by the military claimed that the entire force was involved in gambling.
The prosecution demanded that he remain detained until the end of the investigation, and the court rejected the suspect's petition for house arrest in lieu of actual imprisonment.
The prosecution also accused the officer of demonstrating a willingness to "sell information for financial benefits" at the cost of putting Israel Air Force pilots and operations at risk.
"This is not just a 'gambling story', but a serious treatise of wrongful acts committed out of a pursuit of excitement and lust for financial gain, while completely ignoring their consequences and the most basic moral and ethical norms," said the judge in charge of the case.
The decision to arrest the officer, according to the court, lay not in the severity of the crime but in the fact that the suspect sold classified information, and the danger that those actions could pose to Israel in case he decided to do it again.
Officer claims 'everyone gambles' at the Air Force
During his defense, the officer claimed he was unaware of the severity of his crime, as "everyone in the force" gambles on similar platforms.
"The entire Israel Air Force is involved in gambling," the officer claimed.
According to the court, the claims were not relevant for this case in particular, but demanded a separate investigation to be opened within the military.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been several reports of IDF officials and soldiers with access to sensitive information being accused of using it to gain economic benefits.
The most recent case happened a couple of months ago, when an Israeli civilian and an IDF reservist were indicted on February 12 on charges of exploiting classified military information to place wagers on the prediction-market platform Polymarket.