Let me explain the sleight of hand. Take a (slightly) complex fact like Jews comprising both an ethnicity and a religion and then distil it into absolutes. You can then argue that because Jews follow Judaism, they are not an ethnic group, because Judaism is not an ethnic group. You could just as easily argue that Jews are not a religious group, because their ethnic heritage is not a religion.
The whole point is to set up the argument that Jews are not a people and therefore not a legitimate target for genocide because (according to the person advancing these arguments) genocide must target a people.
The whole things falls apart when you realize, as u/pkvi kindly pointed out, that the Jews are both an ethnic and a religious group. The argument is a false dichotomy: Being part of an ethnic group does not preclude being part of a religious group, even if they share the same name.
Let me explain the sleight of hand. Take a (slightly) complex fact like Jews comprising both an ethnicity and a religion and then distil it into absolutes. You can then argue that because Jews follow Judaism, they are not an ethnic group, because Judaism is not an ethnic group. You could just as easily argue that Jews are not a religious group, because their ethnic heritage is not a religion.
The whole point is to set up the argument that Jews are not a people and therefore not a legitimate target for genocide because (according to the person advancing these arguments) genocide must target a people.
The whole things falls apart when you realize, as u/pkvi kindly pointed out, that the Jews are both an ethnic and a religious group. The argument is a false dichotomy: Being part of an ethnic group does not preclude being part of a religious group, even if they share the same name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnoreligious_group