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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has imposed financial restrictions on the main U.N. agency providing aid in the Gaza Strip, a measure which prevented a shipment of food for 1.1 million Palestinians from reaching the war-battered enclave, the agency's director said Friday. The U.N. food agency defines a famine as when 30% of children are malnourished, one-fifth of households face acute food shortages and two of every 10,000 people are dying from hunger or malnutrition. UNRWA, which serves about 6 million Palestinians whose families were displaced during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948, denies the charges. UNWRA is the main provider of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but Israeli bombardment and combat between Israel and Hamas has made much of the territory too dangerous for aid convoys to cross. Israel alleged last month that 12 employees of the aid agency participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel.

Persons: — Israel, Philippe Lazzarini, Israel, Juliette Touma, Touma, Bezalel Smotrich, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, didn't, Lazzarini, “ Organizations: JERUSALEM, UNRWA, Food, Israel, Bank Leumi, Hamas, Food Program Locations: Gaza, Israel, U.S, Turkey, Ashdod, Port Said, Egypt, Rafah

☆ Tel Aviv bourse says no unusual trading ahead of Oct 7 Hamas attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said on Tuesday that a report by U.S. researchers suggesting there were investors in Israel who may have profited from prior knowledge of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack was inaccurate and its publication irresponsible. "There was nothing unusual in short positions in the stock exchange in the two months before the attack." "The ISA's examinations found, inter-alia, that the average short balances for shares traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange declined during the period preceding October 7th," the regulator said in a statement. Their report said "short interest in the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) suddenly, and significantly, spiked" on Oct. 2, based on data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He also said the short position in Leumi was taken by an unidentified Israeli bank known to the TASE.

Persons: Robert Jackson Jr, Joshua Mitts, Yaniv Pagot, Pagot, Mitts, Steven Scheer, Mark Potter, Leslie Adler Organizations: Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, U.S, New York University, Columbia University, Hamas, Reuters, Israel Securities Authority, Tel, Aviv Stock Exchange, ISA, Leumi, MSCI Israel, Fund, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Thomson Locations: Israel, Leumi, Israel's, agorot, MSCI

☆ Israeli regulators are looking into unusual trading prior to October 7 attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Regulators in Israel are aware of and reviewing research that suggests some unknown traders may have had advance knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attacks. “This subject is known and is being thoroughly checked,” Sivan Carmon, a spokesperson for the Israel Securities Authority, told CNN in a statement on Tuesday. The ISA, the Israeli equivalent of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is charged with fighting securities fraud, insider trading and other market abuse. Experts urged regulators to investigate the matter, including by looking at nonpublic market data that researchers did not have access to. “Of course, that’s quite different from trading based on inside knowledge of terrorist attacks,” Whitehead said.

Persons: ” Sivan Carmon, hasn’t, Yaniv Pagot, ” Pagot, ” Charles Whitehead, Whitehead, ” Whitehead, ” – CNN’s Gayle Harrington Organizations: CNN, Regulators, Israel Securities Authority, Columbia University, New York University, ISA, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Industry Regulatory Authority, Israel, Fund, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Bank Leumi, Cornell Law School Locations: Israel, Gaza, San Francisco

☆ Unknown traders appear to have anticipated October 7 Hamas attack, research finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Short selling is a way to bet against the value of a security. “Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events,” the authors wrote. The research found that on October 2, just five days before the Hamas attack, “nearly 100% of the off-exchange trading volume in the MSCI Israel ETF … consisted of short selling.”“Days before the attack, traders appeared to anticipate the events to come,” the professors wrote. In the days before the attack, bets against Israeli securities traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange “increased dramatically,” the paper said. “Taken together, our evidence is consistent with informed traders anticipating and profiting from the Hamas attack,” the authors wrote.

Persons: hasn’t, Jonathan Macey, ”, Robert Jackson Jr, Joshua Mitts, “, Mitts, it’s “, ” Mitts, Jackson, Bill Bagley, Charles Whitehead, Whitehead, – Organizations: New, New York CNN, Columbia University, New York University, Israel, Fund, Yale Law School, CNN, “ Regulators, SEC, NYU, …, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Israeli Securities Authority, Reuters, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Bank, Cornell Law School Locations: New York, Israel, Gaza, Columbia, Bank Leumi

☆ Israel investigates possible trading knowledge ahead of Oct 7 Hamas attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An aerial view shows vehicles on fire as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities are investigating claims by U.S. researchers that some investors may have known in advance of a Hamas plan to attack Israel on Oct. 7 and used that information to profit from Israeli securities. "And just before the attack, short selling of Israeli securities on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) increased dramatically," they wrote in their 66-page report. In response, the TASE referred Reuters to the Israel Securities Authority, which said: "The matter is known to the authority and is under investigation by all the relevant parties." The professors referred to patterns in early April when it was reported that Hamas was initially planning its attack on Israel.

Persons: Ilan Rosenberg, Robert Jackson Jr, Joshua Mitts, Steven Scheer, Howard Goller Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S, Research, New York University, Columbia University, MSCI Israel, Fund, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Reuters, Israel Securities Authority, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Ashkelon, Israel, MSCI, Israel's

☆ Israel’s fossil fuel boon becomes less clear-cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Yawen Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Israel’s growing gas sector has a significance that extends east and west. Analysts at Israel’s Bank Leumi had estimated that exports would jump to at least 11 bcm this year. Israel’s 1,087 bcm of gas reserves in 2022 yielded 21 bcm of production, of which 9 bcm was exported, with a doubling of exports to Israel’s main market, Egypt. Still, Israel’s gas sector has gone from a helping hand to a potential headache. Follow @ywchen1 on XCONTEXT NEWSDutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, Europe’s benchmark gas index, were trading at 48 euros per megawatt hour as of 0823 GMT on Oct. 19.

Persons: –, Yair Lapid, Israel’s Bank Leumi, It’s, NewMed, Abraham, Gaza’s, Isabel Dotzenrath, George Hay, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, United, United Arab Emirates, Israel’s Bank, LNG, Abu, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, NewMed Energy, Abraham Accords, BP, Natural Gas Futures, Intercontinental Exchange, Chevron, Mediterranean Gas, Oil, Energy, Thomson Locations: United Arab, Israel, Europe, Russia, Egypt, Brussels, Abu Dhabi, Ahli, ’, Jihad, Gaza, Jordan, Denver

☆ Israel parliament starts vote on limiting supreme court power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Nonetheless, commanding a comfortable majority in parliament, Netanyahu's coalition looked set to win the vote on the bill that limits the Supreme Court's powers to overrule decisions made by governments and ministers. 'DISASTER'[1/10]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows Justice Minister Yariv Levin his phone as lawmakers gather at the Knesset plenum to vote on a bill that would limit some Supreme Court power, in Jerusalem July 24, 2023. "If you vote for this bill you will weaken the state of Israel, the people of Israel and the Israel Defence Forces." Justice Minister Yariv Levin who has been driving the changes defended the bill, which would amend a law enabling the Supreme Court to void decisions it deems "unreasonable". Netanyahu's coalition has been determined to push back against what it describes as overreach by a Supreme Court that it says has become too politically interventionist.

Persons: gov't, Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog, Yair Lapid, Yariv Levin, Amir Cohen, We're, Lapid, Levin, Dan Williams, Steven Scheer, Miral Fahmy, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Monday, Police, Netanyahu's, REUTERS, Israel Defence Forces, Supreme, Thomson Locations: Washington, JERUSALEM, Jerusalem, Israel

☆ Israel tech fundraising suffers 65% annual slump in second quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Classiq/Handout via REUTERS/File PhotoJERUSALEM, June 28 (Reuters) - Fundraising by Israeli technology firms slumped 65% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, data showed on Wednesday, as political turmoil in the country exacerbated a global slowdown in the sector. Israeli tech companies raised nearly $16 billion in 2022. But that was mainly in the first half, before the global economic slowdown, higher interest rates and weak stock markets hit. Between April and June, there were only 100 deals and only one was above $200 million, the report said. High-tech had been the fastest growing sector in Israel for a decade, accounting for 14% of jobs and almost a fifth of economic output.

Persons: Yoni Zimmermann, Steven Scheer, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, IVC Research, Israel Innovation Authority, LeumiTech, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Handout, cybersecurity, Israeli

☆ Bank of Israel to raise rates 25 bps next week, may be last in cycle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Israel's annual inflation rate held steady at 5% in April versus expectations it would ease to 4.7%, and stayed well above an official annual target of 1-3%. Shal believes the cycle will end next week and expects rates to stay on hold for the rest of the year, before the Bank starts cutting them in early 2024. When it began hiking rates in April of 2022, the Bank of Israel had initially hoped its front-loading stance would be able to cap its key rate at around 3%. The inflation rate has stayed at at least 5% since last October and peaked at 5.4% in January. Bank Leumi Chief Economist Gil Bufman noted "the drop in inflation in Israel since its peak is low compared to the other countries".

☆ Analysis: Israel's tech sector reels from SVB collapse, proposed judicial reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

In an industry of around 400,000 there are currently around 6,000 vacant tech jobs, according to government data. More than half of the country's startups held an account with SVB, companies and venture capital investors said, in some cases their only U.S. banking facility although the amounts involved are not fully known. Tech companies and investors alike said SVB was a rarity in the banking industry, familiar with Israel's tech ecosystem and offering loan terms unmatched by other banks. Citing the judicial reforms, Adam Fisher, a partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners, said fewer American banks may be willing to lend to Israeli companies, which means less competition and more onerous terms. Israel's tech companies are therefore likely to flock to register as U.S. companies, while keeping R&D back home, said Yaron Samid, managing partner of the TechAviv Founder Partners fund.

☆ Government vows aid for tech firms but Israel stocks slide on SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Israel's tech sector is the country's main growth engine, and its relationship with the Silicon Valley region is strong. NextVision (NXSN.TA), a maker of micro stabilised cameras, said in a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv that it withdrew on Thursday almost all of the $2.7 million it held in SVB. The Tel Aviv index of the five largest banks (.TELBANK5) was down 4% in afternoon trading, while the index of eight insurers (.TAINS) fell 4.7%. Israel's two largest banks, Leumi (LUMI.TA) and Hapoalim (POLI.TA), said their tech banking arms would issue loans to startups and other tech firms that were without access to credit in the wake of SVB's collapse. Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Frank Jack Daniel and Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Israel stocks slip on SVB failure, government vows aid for tech firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A Tel Aviv Stock Exchange sign is seen at the bourse in Tel Aviv, Israel November 4, 2020. With Israel's trading week running Sunday through Thursday, it was the first opportunity for Tel Aviv investors to react to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis. Israel's tech sector is the country's main growth engine and its relationship with the Silicon Valley region is strong. NextVision (NXSN.TA), a maker of micro stabilised cameras, said in a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv that it withdrew on Thursday almost all of the $2.7 million it held in SVB. The Tel Aviv index of the five largest banks (.TELBANK5) was down 2.5% at midday, while the index of eight insurers (.TAINS) fell 4.2%.

[1/2] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as he convenes a weekly cabinet meeting amid surge of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, January 29, 2023. The blue-chip Tel Aviv 35 index (.TA35) was 1.% lower in afternoon trade, while the broader TA-125 index (.TA125) dipped 1.7%. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment to Reuters. Critics have said the move will compromise the independence of the judiciary and undermine Israel's democratic system of checks and balances. There was no sign of a large-scale military operation in the works, and Netanyahu said Israel was not seeking an escalation.

☆ Top Israeli bank chairman to speak at Saudi investment event
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Yousef Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The chairman of Israel's Bank Leumi (LUMI.TA) is due to speak at Saudi Arabia's flagship investment conference in Riyadh on Thursday, in the latest sign of a potential thawing in relations between the two countries. In 2020, Riyadh's Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed historic U.S.-brokered deals to normalise relations with Israel. Organisers of the FII conference confirmed Bank Leumi chairman Samer Haj Yehia's planned attendance in response to a Reuters query. Bank Leumi, one of Israel's two largest banks, declined to comment. Haj Yehia is the first Arab Israeli to serve as the bank's chairman.

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