Children Of Israel Getting Punishment For What They Didn't Know
First of all I shared (a video for you below in this post) to understand that Allah doesn’t want praise. Allah wants man to know the reality of his existence. Those who reject the reality are the ones that eventually become kafir. While the crime are similar, the polytheist’s sin is greater than the Ahl-e-Kitab (for this you must learn why Shirk is a serious sin). So justice demand that there must be distinction between them. Even if both are intentionally rejecting the truth, one group’s sins are greater than the other. They are different so different punishments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pELnrc_Qniw Secondly, I did not say that pious individuals get punished. I said when a nation gets punishment collectively based on Allah’s special rule in video in previous comment(which is seperate from Itmam-e-Hujjat with Rasuul where there is a seperation of pious and rebellious), then everyone gets caught in it. So when a nation is collectively punished, the rebellious will taste the punishment while the honest man is being tested, he is not being punished nor should he feel like it but he would be aware of why it’s happening and try to advise the rebellious to reform or else our nation will be humiliated like this. But when both pious and rebellious learn the truth of their situation then they must together accept the truth they have been rejecting. In this rule, Allah may do justice to a nation collective behavior but the overall rule (which is seperate from what I mentioned right now) is that this life is not based on justice. So a pious man can suffer during an incident that was meant for others. He will be compensated accordingly (the exception is Itmam-E-Hujjat with Rasuul, the exception does not necessarily exist for nation-wide punishment rule, for that the blessings and punishments are given on a national scale).
The children of Bani Israel did not get any punishment. They were given death and taken away, which is the right of God on every human being. The punishment given to Ahle Kitab was lesser because they had denied the truth on the basis of incorrect interpretation while still upholding a significant part of the truth (Tawhid). Others were given capital punishment because they had denied without any rational reason and had even denied Tawhid. Believers (pious individuals as per your terminology) do not get punished as a result of Itmam-e-Hujjah. Please see the following video at 00:32:00: ilm-o-Hikmat 26-01-2020 We have a complete FAQ on itmam-e-hujjah that you may also find useful: Discussion 37972