For the benefit of the general readership, Mοrdοchai Bilshan is called מׇרְדֳּכַי הַיְּהוּדִי throughout the M'gillah (see 5:13, 6:10, 8:7, 9:29, 9:31 and 10:3) even though he is a Ben-Y'mini, because the Hebrew term יְהוּדִי is a demonym derived from the name of our former kingdom and has never been limited only to those from the tribe of the same name:
The language spoken in יְהוּדָה (i.e., Hebrew) is referred to in the Nach as יְהוּדִית (feminine form of יְהוּדִי) in M'lachіm Bet 18:26,28, Y'sha`yahu 36:11,13, Dіvrei Hayyamim Bet 32:18 (which all relate to the same incident), and also in N'ħemyah 13:24. But the language’s contemporary name (עִבְרִית) is not found in the Torah, the N'vi´im or the K'tuvim.
The term ‘Israeli’ is just an English transliteration of the Hebrew יִשְׂרְאֵלִי (the masculine inflexion of the adjective associated with the proper noun יִשְׂרָאֵל) with the first-person nationality suffix ־ִי -i (effectively equivalent to בֶּן־, the s'michut case of the absolute noun בֵּן). It is of Biblical origin and has been in use for thousands of years. It is declined:
יִשְׂרְאֵלִי yisr´eli is very similar to other tribe-names such as אֲדֹמִי adοmi, יִשְׁמְעֵלִי yishm`eli, מוֹאָבִי mο´avi, עַמּוֹנִי `ammοni, עֲמָלֵקִי `amaleḳi etc., etc.. These are all masculine forms.
