The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has said that a report by US researchers suggesting there were investors in Israel who may have profited from prior knowledge of Hamas’ October 7 attack was inaccurate and its publication irresponsible, Reuters reports.

Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares — when investors bet on share prices to fall — leading up to the attacks, which triggered Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas.

The activity, they said, “exceeded the short-selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis” such as the 2008 financial crisis and Covid-19.

They wrote that for Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, 4.43 million shares sold short over the period September 14 to Oct 5 yielded profits of 3.2 billion shekels ($859m).

But the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said the authors miscalculated since share prices are listed in agorot, which are similar to cents and pence, rather than shekels — putting the potential short sale profit at just 32m shekels.