Someone belonging to the ethnic group of people originating in the Middle East, descended from Abraham. The term comes from the Greek/Roman adaptation of "Yehudah", which was a territory of the Israelite tribe; the Kingdom of Judah (930 B.C. to 587 B.C.).
Today, the term is also applied to someone converting to the Jewish religion--in this sense, there are "Arabic" Jews, "Egyptian" Jews, etc.
Within the Bible, there are multiple sub-groups and sects of "Jews". In the modern Christian church, it is sometimes said that "Jews" killed Jesus (who, like his followers, was Jewish). This is not entirely accurate, in that it was the Pharisees (a religious sect or sub-group of the Sanhedrin) who demanded Jesus' arrest, then whipped up a gathering of Jewish people to demand his execution (see Matthew 27:11-26).
A more accurate description would be that "some Jews" demanded Christ's execution. As a whole, there were more Jewish people who followed Jesus, than engineered his arrest and demanded his execution.
Today, the nation of Israel is comprised of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and non-Judeo-Christian citizens. It is a common misconception to call Israelis "Jews".
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