Insider Trading Probe: U.S. Researchers Unearth Suspicious Trades Before Hamas Attack on Israel

Israeli authorities are currently investigating claims made by U.S. researchers regarding potential insider trading before a Hamas attack on Israel earlier this month. Law professors Robert Jackson Jr. from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University discovered significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks, which sparked a war that is now almost two months old.

The researchers found that just days before the attack, traders seemed to anticipate the upcoming events, as evidenced by short interest in the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that spiked on October 2. Additionally, short selling of Israeli securities on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) dramatically increased right before the attack.