The study published Sunday in the SSRN journal by Robert J. Jackson, Jr. from the New York University School of Law and Joshua Mitts of Columbia Law School finds that traders who appear to have had advance knowledge made billions of dollars.

“We document a significant spike in short selling in the principal Israeli-company ETF days before the October 7 Hamas attack,” the paper said, concluding that their data was in line with the consequences of informed trading.

“The short selling that day far exceeded the short selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis, including the recession following the financial crisis, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, we identify increases in short selling before the attack in dozens of Israeli companies traded in Tel Aviv,” it noted.

[Sounds a bit like the suspicions around 9/11, too. Perhaps the best way to deal with this possibility is to make sure no one in Hamas survives to spend the money — but the SEC should look into this and try to claw back the funds, if proven true. — Ed]