Laban was the uncle of Jacob who was renamed Israel
The prophet Jacob was renamed Israel. Israel had 12 sons who formed the 12 Tribes of Israel. The word Israelite refers to the 12 Tribes of Israel, descendants of Jacob/Israel.
The forefathers of the Jews were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (later renamed Israel).
Jacob was renamed "Israel" by God after having his vision of heaven and wrestling with an angel.
Genesis ch.29: The fourth son of Jacob was Judah (Yehudah). Jacob was renamed Israel by God (Genesis ch.35).
Jacob, son of Isaac, in book of Genesis was renamed by God to Israel.Genesis 35:10God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. " So he named him Israel.
God promised Israel (the land of Canaan) to Jacob (Genesis ch.28), whom He renamed Israel (Genesis ch.35).
After Jacob was renamed "Israel" in Genesis 32, his descendants were called "the children of Israel" or "Israelites".
God renamed Jacob to Israel as a symbol of his new identity and purpose. The name change signified Jacob's transformation from a deceitful person to a man who had wrestled with God and emerged as a new, honorable leader of his people.
AbrahamIsaacJacobMosesAaronJoshuaPhinehasElkanahEliSamuelGadNathanDavidSolomonIddoMichaiah son of YimlahOvadyahAchiah the ShiloniteYehu son of HananiAzariah son of OdedYahaziel the LeviteEliezer son of DodavahuHoseaAmosMicah the MorashtiAmotzElijahElishaJonah son of AmittaiIsaiahYo'elNahumHabakkukZephaniahUriahJeremiahEzekielShemaiahBaruchNeriahSeraiahMachseyahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMordecai BilshanOdedHananiAnd: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Avigail, Huldah, Esther.See also:Purpose of the ProphetsHistory of the Hebrew BibleJewish history timeline
Because they were all the descendants of Jacob, whom God renamed Israel (Genesis ch.35). See also:What was the ancestry of the Jewish tribes?
If the Bible is a taken as either a piece of literature or fact, the narrative provides that a certain piece of land will belong to the descendants of Abraham. In that narrative it is clear that the inheritance passes to his grandson Jacob. Jacob is renamed Israel during an encounter with the Divine. This renamed Israel gave birth to the twelve tribes which eventually reoccupied the land promised them and used the name of Israel as a unifying sense of kinship (we have all one father). Thus the Jacob's name transfered from referring only to a person to a piece of land.