Bet against Israeli companies: Traders knew about Hamas attack

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There are only losers in the Middle East conflict. Or not? A scientific study from the USA shows that before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, bets against Israeli companies had increased significantly in the stock markets. What this means is that investors knew about the coming attack and made good money from it.

Israeli bank shares lose a quarter of their value

The study comes from two law professors from renowned US universities in New York and Columbia. It hasn’t gone through the peer review process yet, so these are preliminary results.

The study’s authors identified a significant number of so-called short sales starting on October 2, including by an investment fund that primarily held shares of Israeli companies. Apart from this fund, short sales on the Tel Aviv stock exchange also increased. For example, Israeli bank Leumi was affected, whose share price fell by more than 22 percent following the start of the conflict.

In short selling, investors bet that prices will fall. They are considered high risk.

Who is behind it?

Exactly how much profit was made is unclear: One of the authors of the scientific study told CNN that only the tip of the iceberg is visible. Behind the scenes, many more bets were made against Israeli companies in order to benefit economically from the terrorist attack.

It is reasonable to assume that Hamas is behind at least some of these allegations. The attack would be a success for them not only militarily but also financially.

However, the authors of the study emphasize that attributing short selling to Hamas is speculative. It is also possible that other traders knew about the impending attack and took advantage of it. There were numerous indications of a possible attack before October 7, but the Israeli army ignored them.

Source :Blick