I think nations are built on common race, culture, and religion together, along with well-defended borders and a certain amount of exclusiveness. If you have a political entity but you don't have a common race, culture, and religion for its citizens, then you have a country, but not a nation.
Of course Israel would be a little different because there are Jews of all races, however these different races give up their racial identities and become Jewish, identifying with their Jewishness as their nation.