"Israelites" is a song written by Desmond Dekker and Leslie Kong for their group, Desmond Dekker & the Aces, which reached the top of the charts in numerous countries in 1969. Sung in Jamaican Patois, some of the song's lyrics were not readily understood by many British and American listeners at the time of its release. Despite this, the single was the first UK reggae #1 and among the first to reach the US top ten (peaking at #9). It combined the Rastafarian religion with rude boy concerns, to make what has been described by Allmusic as a "timeless masterpiece that knew no boundaries".