These days, the people who live in Israel are called Israelis. But, a long time ago, there was a country that occupied pretty much the same piece of land that was also called Israel. The people who lived there then were called the Israelites. Why did the name for the inhabitants change? Does it signify anything?
Israelites means the descendants of the Biblical Patriarch Jacob, a.k.a. Israel (or converts to the religion practiced thereby). It did not include others who lived in that territory. Even if they lived in an area controlled by an Israelite king, they were referred to as Philistines, or Canaanites, or whatever.
Israelis means anyone who lives in the modern State of Israel, no matter what their ethnic origin. If they are citizens of the State of Israel, they are Israelis.
Also, there was a 2000 year gap, give or take, between the time of the Israelite “state” and the time of the Israeli state.
Does the word Israelite appear before the King James Version was translated?
The issue here isn’t in the history of Israel -it’s in thehistory of the English language.
If the country of Israel had been founded in the 17th century, I think we’d be hearing about Israelites. But in modern English, it just sounds funny.
( does anybody remember the episode of “Taxi” (1982?) where they debate what to call people from Delaware? Delawarians, maybe, Delaware-ites, maybe…but never "Delawanians )
This isn’t unique. Think “Anglo-Saxon” vs. “English”, “Frank” vs. “French”, “Norse” vs. “Scandinavian”, etc.
Incidentally, they’re not the same terms in Hebrew, either. The old people are called Bnei Yisrael, or “Children of Israel” (which is usualy shortened to “Israelites”); the modern, Yisraelim.