"A small group then select from those nominations."
And who is that small group?
This process does not award the prize based on the number of times a particular person is nominated. It is the antithesis of a popularity contest, otherwise known as a democratic process.
Considering the history of anti-Jewish European sentiment, and historical anti-Semitism, I would be hard pressed to understand how it was Jewish popularity that gave them the prize.
How about these prizes, were they awarded based on Jewish popularity?
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
Those in the Nobel group for the specific category.
... were they awarded based on Jewish popularity
Ok, now I see where the problem is. I didn't say that the NP was awarded on "Jewish popularity". I said it was popularity of the recipients efforts in the field of work. That popularity comes from promotion, something that can be manipulated. Scientific fields are no different from others in this respect.