The Jews will be deceived into making a seven-year covenant with the UNREVEALED Antichrist.
Not sure why lots of prophecy students are ignorant of this fact. In the first half, the Antichrist is in his unrevealed state.
It is not as if the Jews will be aware that they are making a covenant with the Antichrist. That's the point of his deception. He will be a Trojan horse.
ONLY at the midpoint, then, is the Antichrist revealed (2 Thess 2; Rev 13), showing his true colors and, at that time, demands worship as God.
Incidentally, be careful of saying “Jews could never worship the Antichrist as God” for two reasons:
i. This will be an unprecedented period of deception as the whole world witnesses deceptive miracles (including an apparent coming back to life of the beast, Rev 13). The Jews are not immune.
ii. There is precedent, as some adherents of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, consider their Rebbe divine.