I took a biblical archaeology class as an undergrad and both our teacher and every text we read were very cautious about making this link. There simply isn't ve

I took a biblical archaeology class as an undergrad and both our teacher and every text we read were very cautious about making this link. There simply isn't very much evidence for who the 'PRW (apiru or whatever) were; we don't even know if it's a particular tribe/identity or just a catch-all for brigands and outlaws. Similarly, we don't have any historical evidence for what Israelite society was like before ~1000BC and definitely nothing about 2000BC (when the word apiru starts appearing). I agree that the ancient documents about marauding apiru might be referring to Hebrews, but we really should keep our Bayesian hats on when evaluating archaeological evidence. As for "Yakubu" and "Israel", any citations? Are those in one of the Amarna letters?