Apostate prophet investigates the pagans; what did they think of Muhammad's claim in light of the Israelite tradition?

In answer to the video "Did Allah Really Send Prophets to the Entire World?"

The Arab idolators in the time of the prophet Muhammad thought that the Jews, monotheists like him, were most likely to adhere to his message. So when they approached them seeking their opinion of Muhammad, they instead found them sometimes going as far in their denial as negating that God had ever revealed Books to prophets previously

6:91"Allah has not revealed anything to a mortal. Say: Who revealed the Book which Musa brought, a light and a guidance to men, which you make into scattered writings which you show while you conceal much? And you were taught what you did not know, (neither) you nor your fathers".

These are the lowly standards the Jews of that time were ready to go to in order to maintain their position against the prophet Muhammad, just as they would feign reverence to the Arab Idols, as alluded to in 4:51 in order to forge military alliances against the Muslims, publicly bowing to the idols to reassure the suspecting Quraysh

"Your are people of Scripture and Muhammad has a Scripture and we are not completely sure that this is a scheme that you devised. So if you want us to go along with you, you have to prostrate to these two idols and believe in them."

They would also claim that for a new revelation from God to supersede the Torah and depose them from being the torch-bearers of monotheism, it would be contingent upon God communicating His will collectively with them as was the case at Sinai. Yet that very day, they requested themselves not to hear God's voice directly anymore, and not to see such awesome manifestation fearing they would die. They further said that it was a miracle that such a thing happened, and no mortal could hear such a thing and survive, with the exception of certain people, like Moses. They then asked Moses to be their intermediary with God

"Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey".

In Deut4:32-33 the author writes a prediction that over the course of history no such phenomenon will occur again. But as Moses states much later, despite all the miracles they witnessed, they still did not possess any certainty of faith. Those Israelites who were stubborn and persisted in disobedience, even after these miracles, only increased their own loss. Their viewing a miracle granted them no superiority and in fact the Quran says that when God chooses to manifest miracles it is to establish the tremendous responsibility of those that witness it, resulting in terrible punishment in case of disobedience as their own books amply recount

44:33"And We gave them of the signs that in which there was an obvious trial". 

These were all known facts to them, refuting their demands from the get go just as was many times the case with other issues they attempted raising in order to maintain their position against the prophet Muhammad. Prophets have been around, before and after the Sinai national revelation, meaning the truthfulness of a prophet is independent of such criteria. That kind of miracle, as occured at Sinai when the law was promulgated and the covenant established, even if true, remains frozen in time. It loses its value later to those that did not directly experience it. Those that come to know of it today only do so because a text tells them that their ancestors witnessed the events. Not because their parents tell them what their grand-parents said what their forefathers said they saw and so on, until the furthest ancestor that was present. It may even be outright rejected as a pious fabrication and legend, as is mostly the case today with Jesus' recorded miracles. Any miracle that comes after the events of Sinai, supersedes it in credibility to its witnesses. 

Only a miracle that transcends time and retains its supernatural qualities today as it did when first introduced cannot be superseded in credibility and can be termed superior to others. Only the Quran possesses that quality.

The Quran alludes to this self-deceptive behavior of the People of the Book during the rise of Islam in many places, how they would raise irrelevant objections in light of their own scriptures in order to deny his prophethood. None of these objections were related to the absence of prophecies speaking of him in their scriptures and in fact the Quran reinforces the notion that these predictions are so clear that

6:20,2:146"those to whom We have given the scripture recognize him as they recognize their own sons".

This verse echoes what the prominent Jewish Rabbi of Medina, Abdullah ibn Salam used to say as regards the prophet Muhammad

"Certainly, I have greater knowledge of this Muḥammad than my knowledge of my son".

The Quran would mention the reaction of such early converts among the Jews and Christians

5:83"hear what has been revealed to the messenger you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize; they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of truth)".

The Quran speaks in sura Baqara of the predictions of the HB regarding Muhammad in the context of the covenant established with the Israelites at Mt Sinai, emphasizing that the context of the prophecy is the promulgation of a new law and the birth of a nation under God.