Why was Israel called Israel?

Because of Protestant Apocalypse-ism. Israel was established basically to fulfill prophecy talking about the end of history.
 

Deleted member 94680

"Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" (Medinat Yisrael) after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel ("the Land of Israel"), Zion, and Judea, were considered and rejected. In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett.

The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish people respectively. The name "Israel"(Standard Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; SeptuagintGreek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; 'El(God) persists/rules' though, after Hosea 12:4 often interpreted as "struggle with God") in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel?wprov=sfsi1

Why can't people just look these things up on the internet?
 
Why can't people just look these things up on the internet?

Because then we'd miss out on some of the delightful surrealism, such as is found in Post #3.
 

Deleted member 94680

Because then we'd miss out on some of the delightful surrealism, such as is found in Post #3.

Ha, fair point. I agree with the second descriptor, definitely not the first though.

EDIT: I've just thought, there probably is somewhere on the Internet (in a deep, dark corner) that supplies that kind of 'view'.
 
But why did they reject Zion, if that's the name of the movement to begin with? Why pick Israel, if that's the name of the northern kingdom that got corrupted while the Kingdom of Judah was the one that was with God?
 
But why did they reject Zion, if that's the name of the movement to begin with? Why pick Israel, if that's the name of the northern kingdom that got corrupted while the Kingdom of Judah was the one that was with God?
"Israel" was used to refer to the United Kingdom in Judean texts, so it's better suited to a unified Jewish state. Those righteous Judean kings are always measured up against David, after all.

Edit: Zion does make more sense, I agree.
 
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Deleted member 94680

But why did they reject Zion, if that's the name of the movement to begin with? Why pick Israel, if that's the name of the northern kingdom that got corrupted while the Kingdom of Judah was the one that was with God?

The 1955 Israeli government year-book said, "It is called the 'State of Israel' because it is part of the Land of Israel and not merely a Jewish State. The creation of the new State by no means derogates from the scope of historical Eretz Israel". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Israel

The way I understand it, (and I may be wrong please do not attack me for it!) Israel is more akin to "Land of the Jews" whereas the other possible names are either previous states - may have territorial implications - or are more indistinct from a Jewish point of view. Zion, for example, more specifically refers to Jerusalem so whether they thought that would imply a city state or if they wanted to avoid implications of claiming the contested city?
 
What the hell is AVALON HILL going to title its famous 1970s war-game -between the Arabs and the sons of David?

THE ARAB -ZION WARS?
THE ARAB -ZUDEA WARS?
THE ARAB -ERETZ ISRAEL WARS?
NAW
THE ARAB -ISRAEL WARS?
THAT WORKS!
 
But why did they reject Zion, if that's the name of the movement to begin with? Why pick Israel, if that's the name of the northern kingdom that got corrupted while the Kingdom of Judah was the one that was with God?

"Israel" was used to refer to the United Kingdom in Judean texts, so it's better suited to a unified Jewish state. Those righteous Judean kings are always measured up against David, after all.

Edit: Zion does make more sense, I agree.

tl;dr they were named by different people at different times

"Zion" refers to Jerusalem (well, a specific mountain in Jerusalem, and thus the whole city by metonymy). The choice of the term "Zionism" to refer to the Jewish nationalist movement is for somewhat historical reasons. Contemporary with the foundation of Zionism was the formation of a series of groups called the "Chovevei Tsion" ("Those who love Zion"). These were organizations seeking to establish Jewish settlements in Palestine as a way to get Jews away from the enormous antisemitism and pogroms of Russia; notably, they didn't care much about a Jewish state and were happy to live under Ottoman benign neglect. It was actually these groups, rather than the more abstract and intellectual "Zionists proper" of Western Europe that began the first of what we would now call Zionist settlements, including the very first one, Petach Tivka ("Opening of Hope"; the specific name is a biblical reference, but the choice should be pretty clear). The link between the Chovevei Tsion and the more "political" Zionists like Herzl who sought specifically the establishment of a Jewish state was probably Leon Pinsker, author of Auto-Emancipation, probably the first written document calling for the establishment of a Jewish state (though offering several possible sites), since he was also involved with the former. The first use of the term "Zionism" in reference to the movement was in the journal Self Emancipation. As far as I know, the reason for this choice was never stated, but the editors would certainly have read Auto-Emancipation, and likely chose it in reference and deference to Pinsker and the Chovevei Tsion.

In contrast, "the land of Israel" is the traditional Jewish term for region of Palestine/Judea/Southern Syria/Whatever. The people choosing the name weren't thinking about 2500 year old kingdoms. There's also the fact that "children of Israel" is the traditional term for Jews, moreso than the term "Jews", actually, which technically refers only to members of the tribe of Judah slash people from the southern Kingdom of Judah (which also included some people from a few other tribes). The term Hebrew (the root of the word for Jews in many eastern European languages) also works, but Israel was preferred. This is important, because the Zionists wanted Israel to be a nation-state, so it made sense to name the state after the nation, as, I dunno, France is called France and not Gaul (the fact that the nation and the region had the same name made the choice of name something of a no-brainer).
 
"Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" (Medinat Yisrael) after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel ("the Land of Israel"), Zion, and Judea, were considered and rejected.

Why can't people just look these things up on the internet?
I did look up on Wikipedia and the 'Zion and Judea' line is sourced to a teensy article in the Palestine Post, through a link that didn't work. And it explained pretty much nothing, because Wikipedia is only 'good' at surface-level information. Complaining that people don't look on Wikipedia completely misses the point of posting a question here. There's an almost certainty that someone looked on Wikipedia and found it wanting.

All this stuff about etymology is interesting but it doesn't quite explain why Israel was picked in '48. Thankfully Minchandre stepped in.
 
But why did they reject Zion, if that's the name of the movement to begin with? Why pick Israel, if that's the name of the northern kingdom that got corrupted while the Kingdom of Judah was the one that was with God?
Judging from archaeology, when there were two kingdoms of Israel and Judah they were both "corrupted", meaning they both kept the worship of multiple gods which their ancestors had done, including Yahweh's wife which was mostly (but not entirely) edited out of the bible. The Yahweh-only movement didn't really gain ground even in Judah until after Israel had fallen to Assyria, and indeed that movement was probably strengthened by people migrating south to Judah from Israel.
 
Judging from archaeology, when there were two kingdoms of Israel and Judah they were both "corrupted", meaning they both kept the worship of multiple gods which their ancestors had done, including Yahweh's wife which was mostly (but not entirely) edited out of the bible. The Yahweh-only movement didn't really gain ground even in Judah until after Israel had fallen to Assyria, and indeed that movement was probably strengthened by people migrating south to Judah from Israel.
Oh dear. Dare I ask where that reference is? And I am guessing a lot of the trouble is because so many names of deities in the Levant translated to Lord. Baal, for instance.
 
Oh dear. Dare I ask where that reference is? And I am guessing a lot of the trouble is because so many names of deities in the Levant translated to Lord. Baal, for instance.
Yahweh's consort was Asherah. Multiple references remain in the Bible, such as Josiah cutting down the statue(s) of Asherah in the Jerusalem temple which Solomon had built. (2 Kings 23:14). Manessah had a statue built to Asherah too, and there are various references to Asherah poles.

There's also a surviving inscription in the Sinai which refers to Yahweh and his Asherah.

Edit: And Baal originally was a general title which meant "lord" and was probably used as a title for Yahweh (though there's disagreement over that point), but was later used for the name of more specific deities.
 
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