Israel was one of the southern tribes, one of the Tribes that was not carried away into Captivity.
I don't have a dog in this debate, but some of this misinformation needs to be cleared up.
The nation of Israel, composed of 12 tribes roughly representing the 12 sons of Jacob (renamed Israel by God) only existed as a unified kingdom under Israel's first three kings ... Saul, David, and Solomon.
Upon the ascension of Solomon's son Rehoboam to the throne of Israel, following his father's death, ... the kingdom of Israel split into (2) parts ... referred to as the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.
The Northern Kingdom was composed of 10 tribes (all but the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) and was referred to variously as Israel, Ephraim, and Samaria. The city of Samaria became the capital of the kingdom.
The Southern Kingdom was composed of the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin and was primarily referred to as Judah. It's capital remained at Jerusalem.
Both of the kingdoms ultimately were conquered and their peoples taken into captivity.
The Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity first by Assyria (in 722 BC). This was, largely, due to the fact that, of the score of kings which ruled over Israel, there was not one which led the kingdom in a way which was pleasing to God. Despite recurring periods of prosperity and prominence, the Northern Kingdom fell in hopeless idolatry, and so, came under an earlier judgement by God than her sister kingdom, Judah.
The Southern Kingdom, while also having its share of wicked kings, ... also had a few godly kings. These kings would periodically come on the scene and clean-up a lot of wickedness which was going on in the kingdom. So, the Southern Kingdom staved off judgement by God for about 150 longer than did the Northern Kingdom. However, in 586 BC, judgement came in the form of conquest by Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the carrying off of the people for subsequent resettlement.
The prophet Jeremiah was alive at the time of the judgement of Judah, and prophesied that the captivity would last 70 years, after which God would allow His people to return back to, what was now referred to as Judea, a province of Babylon.
Seventy years later, after Persians had defeated the Babylonians, the Persian kings Cyrus and his successor, Darius made successive proclamations that the Jews (as they were now known) were free to return to Judea, to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple. Small group of Jews returned (mainly from the descendants of the Babylonian captivity).
Very few representatives of the Northern Kingdom's ten tribes returned, which resulted in them being referred to as the lost tribes of Israel.
SD