The colonization of the eastern Mediterranean with Ashkenazi Jews who, subsequently, founded a nation-state that they called "Israel" has ironically (not magically) transformed the Jewish citizens of that state into the Biblical "people Israel."
The Biblical "people Israel" were to be the conscience of the nations (the so-called "gentiles"). They were "chosen" insofar as they provided a proper example of righteous conduct on earth. They could provide that example through positive or negative actions. Positive actions would include fulfilling the 613 mitzvot of the Rabbis. Negative actions would include the failure to fulfill the mitzvot as well as actions that contradict Rabbinic teachings. In the latter case, the "people Israel" risk becoming a byword: they demonstrate unrighteous conduct on earth.
With respect to their treatment of the indigenous peoples of Palestine (whose ancestors were, for the most part, Christians and Jews before they began to convert to Muhammad's movement in the 7th century of the Common Era--an historical fact the Ashkenazis have chosen to ignore), the Israelis become the "people Israel" as byword. The ironies of history can be painfully exquisite.
At one level, the conflict in Israel-Palestine is a dispute over real estate; at another level, it becomes a Biblical metaphor--but not in the way in which, say, Leon Uris presented it in his fictional account Exodus.
It appears that those who have been "chosen" as the positive conscience of the nations are the Sumudin of the West Bank and Gaza. Ironically, many of those who call themselves "Israelis" embody the "people Israel" as negative examples.
Anyone who has bothered to read the Hebrew prophets would not be surprised. Indeed, the prophets themselves would not be surprised.
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