Dutch Israelism is the belief the Dutch people

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

, or people of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, particularly the Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

 of the province Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

, descend from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Early Sources

Adriaan van der Schrieck (1560–1621) a Flemish language researcher in 1614 first made this identification:
Dutch Israelism can also be traced back to the 17th century historian Matthew Smallegange (1624–1710) who wrote the Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

 descended from the ancient Hebrews in his Cronyk van Zeeland ("Chronicle of Zeeland

Zeeland

Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

").

Helene Koppejan

The only key work on Dutch Israelism to date is Strange Parallel: Zubulun -The Netherlands A Tribe of Israel (1984) by Helene Koppejan, which has been printed in English with a written foreword by British Israelite E. Raymond Capt. Helene Koppejan in her book Strange Parallel, notes that the early proponent of British Israelism

British Israelism

British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...

, John Wilson

John Wilson (historian)

John Wilson was one of the ideological architects of British Israelism alongside Richard Brothers....

 in 1837 had identified the Israelite Tribe of Zebulun

Tribe of Zebulun

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Zebulun was one of the Tribes of Israel....

 with the Dutch people

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

. Several modern Israelite-Identity organisations continue to follow this identification. Helene's work attempts to further this identification through history, semiology and philology.

Organisations

Dutch Israelite organisations were set up in the early 20th century. Nederlandsche Israël-Kring, a Netherlands-based organisation teaching Dutch Israelism, was closed down by the Nazis. After the war, in the 1950s, Bond Netherlands Israel was set up with the aim of promoting the identity notion that the Israelite tribe of Zebulun

Zebulun

Zebulun was, according to the Books of Genesis and Numbers, the sixth son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Zebulun...

 are the Dutch people

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, particularly the Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

 of the province Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

. The organsisation since 1958 has published the "Een Nieuw Geluid" paper, which attempts to establish this identity through revising historical links.