Jerusalem (Judah) fell to Nebuchadnezzar
which resulted in the great exile of 587-539 BCE in which the jews were removed from Palestine.

The Jews returned in 538 BCE after Alexander took over Palestine. There was total Hellenization under Antiochus IV in which the Hebrew language disappeared as a living spoken language until 1947.

When the Jews lost first their historic lands (first Israel, the northern kingdom aka Samaria in 722 and finally Jerusalem in 687 BCE. and lastly their language--all ties of nationhood were taken from them and their idenity virtually removed until 1947 CE.

Only memory, tradition, and the Mama Lochen preserved what the Jewish tradition once held.

Holding the memory of such a protracted separation from a real time history gives today's Jews a fierce hunger to protect and save the identity they have developed since 1947.

More than religion is involved here. Heritage and tribal memory and centuries of oppression force a cohesion that encompasses many elements.

In this case nothing is simple or really unilateral.