Question for Jews?

Most American Jews are proud to be Jewish-American, though when asked for something more specifically I'd just say that I'm Jewish because normally I'm in America and I take it as a given. Outside the US, I definitely identify as an American first. Perhaps think about it being Irish or Italian or even Latino. Sure terms like Irish-American, Italian-American, and Latino-American do exist but in context we understand what they are without the American suffix. Same thing with the Jews.

I think a huge thing you are missing is that a lot of people see themselves as ethnically Jewish. While that's technically not what you are supposed to say (the terms Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and others being the legit ones), people have often substituted the word Jew for such and that's how people understand a rather difficult aspect of Jewish culture. Not everyone Jewish has to be from these ethnicities but many Jews are, and the religion was conflated with the ethnicity in many people's minds for centuries. After all, when the Nazis went after the Jews, they didn't care if they converted to another religion like Catholicism and did go after those who were only "half" or "quarter" Jewish by descent. Such terms don't exist in religious Judaism but rather ethnic Judaism.

Hence, if asked what you were, responding "Catholic" wouldn't be the equivalent answer on your part. Not necessarily, at least.

In some places - Northern Ireland - you might well identify yourself as a Catholic before you identified yourself as a Northern Irish.

"Jewish" can be used to mean a religion, an ethnic group, or a nationality, depending on who is saying it and why. That doesn't make sense. Much of the world does not.

Both major Jewish ethnic groups - Ashkenazic and Sephardic - have DNA markers, which argues that they are, indeed, ethnic groups in that respect, just like Native Americans.

They say that they are American by nationality but Jewish by faith. Don't confuse the two things. Our Jews also were once called Hebrews when that did signify a place and a tribal association, but that is all past history.

Of course they are americans, but being Jewish is more than religion, it's an ethnic group too. People tell others there backgrounds all of the time, "I'm latino", "I'm Irish", etc.

Jews built the pyramids

Identify themselves? How? Do they say that without you asking them? Do they just volunteer - "Hey, I'm Jewish"? What question do you ask them for them to respond in that way? Do you say "What nationality are you?" Do you say "what religion are you?"

Because God loves us best