An unforgivable sin of the Children of Israel which caused them to be stricken with abasement and indigence and burdened them with the wrath of God was killing of prophets. A number of hadiths reveal that, at one point, they killed about 300 prophets in just one day.
It has been reported that the Israelites, i.e. children of Israel, once killed three hundred prophets in one single day.[1] This massacre (2:61, 87, 91; 3:21, 112, 181; 4:155; 5:70) is also mentioned in several places of the Bible (Luke 13:34; Matthew 23:37; Romans 11:3; 1 Thessalonians2:14–15; 1 Kings 19:10).[2] The Qur’an names Zachariah and John among the Prophets who were killed by children of Israel.[3] What makes the issue even more horrible is that the children of Israel knew that the victims were prophets of God, and that killing them would be a grave sin. Based on Islamic tradition, the Israelites caused the death of many prophets in either of two ways. Either they killed the prophets themselves, as mentioned above, or they revealed the beliefs, secret sayings and teachings of the prophets to tyrant rulers of their time and provoked those rulers to kill the Prophets. Subsequently, these rulers captured the prophets and killed them and therefore, it is true to say that the Israelites had the prophets killed.[4] Aside from that, many prophets were threatened to death. Aaron, Moses’s brother, was one of them. The Quran narrates: “…And he [Moses] threw down the tablets and seized his brother by [the hair of] his head, pulling him toward him. [Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, indeed the people oppressed me and were about to kill me…”[5]
Notes:
[1] Ad-Dur-o Al-Manthur, Soyuti, vol 1, p 73.
[2] See: Gabriel Reynolds’s article:
https://www3.nd.edu/~reynolds/index_files/jews%20as%20killers%20of%20the%20prophets%20final.pdf
[3] Tafsir Al-Qur’an Al-karim, Seyed Abdullah Shubbar, p 49.
[4] Al-Mahasen, Barqi, vol 1, p 256.0
[5] Chapter 7, verse 150. وَأَلْقَى الْأَلْوَاحَ وَأَخَذَ بِرَأْسِ أَخِيهِ يجُرُّهُ إِلَيهِ قَالَ ابْنَ أُمَّ إِنَّ الْقَوْمَ اسْتَضْعَفُونِي وَكَادُوا يقْتُلُونَنِي