I'm just interested because the source I have says that the Jews were basically revered as being a very old religion and the Romans were extremely conservative. But it seems to me rather interesting that the Romans, these rather shrewd political actors, would just give away favor for ideology's sake. To me it seemed kind of like a way of shutting up a potentially powerful rival/dissident faction - but I don't have a very good understanding of chronology of the revolts/conquest.

So more appropriately, is there any evidence that Jews were given favor under Rome because of material interest?

EDIT: To clarify, I'm under the impression that Jews enjoyed a certain amount ideological clout and legal status during Roman rule of Judea and samaria. So they were exempted from military conscription and the like. But I don't have much information myself.