I really like the work you have done with this mod but don't mean any offense I think you guys put your religious or personal bias infront of historical facts:
The kingdom of Israel was never that big. It was even smaller than the present state of Israel, and to be accurate, it was a kingdom over some small tribes and in any case wasn't comparable to its neighbors' empires rich with their cultures, like Egypt, Mesopotamia and Phoenicia. You gotta also put in mind that we are talking about a CIVILIZATION. Nearly all the civilizations in V continued in some form or the other through the ages, Egypt for example continued to be a great power in the Middle east long after the pharaohs in the form of the Mamluke empire, Fatimids, and Salahudin, the turks continued to be a source of power after the fall of the seljuks in the form of the ottomans, etc..
Your history is pretty ignorant. At its height, both ancient Israel and classical Israel were much bigger than modern Israel. They included large chunks of present-day Jordan (basically all the fertile areas on the east bank of the Jordan), and much of southern Syria and Lebanon.
And ancient-classical Israel continued for a LONG time. The Israelites conquered the land in about 1300 b.c.e. and stayed sovereign for more than 700 years (till 586 b.c.e.). Then, after about a 60 year lag, the Israelites returned and functioned as a self-governing autonomous region of the Persian and Greek empires for the next 400 years. Then they were independent for about a century. If you count the autonomous rump state in Galilee under Yehuda HaNasi, classical Israel lasts till about 200 c.e. So that's close to a 1500 year period -- far longer than most civs in the game.
The Torah explains that Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites, migrated from between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Babylon, which is modern day Iraq, into the land of the Philistines (from whence the word Palestine comes), where they then slaughtered the inhabitants, much like today, and took the land from the indigenous peoples. Thus, if the Kingdom of Israel is going to be shown, why isn't the "Kingdom of Philistine" shown before it?.
Wow you are ignorant. The Caananite tribes preceded Israel, not the Phillistines. The Phillistines were later invaders who post-dated the Israelites by about 200 years, and likely originated in Crete or Anatolia. And the Philistines NEVER ruled more than a small stretch of the land of Israel. Their territory pretty much approximated the modern day Gaza Strip, though it extended a little farther north. The name "Palestine" comes from them only because, as Israel's greatest enemy, the Romans thought it would be fun to rename Judea "Palestine" as a way to insult the Jews. It had nothing to do with Phillistine power.
Lastly, your Kingdom of Israel can't be taken seriously. Where exactly is the evidence to support that? What monolithic art and architecture did ancient Jews ever produce? Meanwhile, we have loads of artifacts from their ancient contemporaries. Their are other civilizations and empires in the Middle east that should be concluded, Israel is not one of them.
Again, you are misinformed. There's a pretty substantial record of Israel, both in archeology and in the region beginning in the period of the Divided Monarchy. We've got Hezekiah's cistern. We've got Assyrian slabs that mention Ahaziah, Jehu and Omri. We've got Egyptian steles that record battles. We've got substantial fortifications all over the country. Just a few years ago, they discovered the royal palace in the City of David.
In fact, given that Israel CAN'T dig in most of Jerusalem (because it's inhabited), it's pretty remarkable what we do have.
And by the classical period, we've got a clear record of the Maccebees defeating the Selecuid Empire, of both the Maccabean and Herodian dynasties, and of the revolts against Rome.