5:64-6"And the Jews say, "The hand of Allah is chained." Chained are their hands, and cursed are they for what they say. Rather, both His hands are extended; He spends however He wills. And that which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief. And We have cast among them animosity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it. And they strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters. And if only the People of the Scripture had believed and feared Allah, We would have removed from them their misdeeds and admitted them to Gardens of Pleasure. And if only they upheld [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to them from their Lord, they would have consumed [provision] from above them and from beneath their feet. Among them are a moderate community, but many of them - evil is that which they do".
Interestingly, there are in fact clear references to such blasphemous imagery in Jewish literature, one example being a 5-6th century piyyut/poem by Eleazar ha-kallir. The context is similar to the above passage, that of disobedience and consequent destruction. The Jews, at least in that poem, and possibly the prophet's contemporaries too who were being defeated by the Muslims, used a double language reflecting both their despair and prideful arrogance in the face of their enemies. So although their cries were clearly not heard while they were being slaughtered and destroyed, that silence and lack of action was not due to God cutting them off from His mercy rather to Him purposefully restraining, ie chaining Himself, from punishing their enemies. This kind of double, self serving language is common in Jewish thought. For example we find the idea among Talmudic scholars that the reason for the destruction of the 2nd Temple, and consequent scattering of the Jews was a divine scheme aimed at increasing the number of converts.
The Quran tells them, as regards the notion of God's Hand being chained, that God is not restrained in anyway, much less as they implied. The obedient are favored while the sinful are destroyed, simple as that. More particularly destruction most often befalls those that are warned by a prophet in their midst. The punishment of the Jews, whether in the time of the Israelites or Ishmaelite prophets was thus because of divine disapproval consequently to their sins and disbelief. They are the reason for their condition, God has withdrawn His mercy from them. God has not restrained His anger from their enemies but has withdrawn His protection from those claiming to be His elect among the nations. This is the case since their rejection of the last Israelite prophet sent to them in Jesus, and is still the case today. Instead of God protecting them, they have been and still are subjected to the humiliating need of protection from all kinds of people and nations, including the Christians, the followers of the last prophet they rejected.
Furthermore God's mercy is open to anyone, Jew or else. So let them not think that they are being indirectly "favored" through slaughter. They have been cut off from divine approval and mercy, and still are.
Further reading answering Islam critiqued "Are God's Hands Chained?"
