As for using modern place names when referring to ancient civilizations? It’s an absolute necessity to communicate location to a wide audience, not comprised solely of historical or archeological scholars.

” It’s the first time an Egyptian statue has been found in the ancient Levant region”

It isn’t the first at all. Not even the first Sphinx. An ancient Egyptian sphinx was discovered near Damascus at Qatna a few years ago dating to the reign of Amenhetep (1875–1840 BC).

““Egypt maintained relations with Lebanon, especially via the ancient port of Byblos, to import cedar wood via the Mediterranean, they skipped past today’s northern Israel”, he said. ”

First of all, it’s extremely misleading to use modern names of states to describe ongoings from 4000 years ago.

Secondly, Egypt did not “skip” Israel. Northern Egyptian culture developed as a part of Levantine culture from the Halfan culture to the pre-dynastic Harifian and Merimde cultures. And during the pharaonic period Egypt occupied and controlled the Levant repeatedly and for hundreds of years. During the reigns of Ramses, Seti, Amenhotep, Thuthmosis, and others. So unless the the professor is talking about the specific decade from which the sphinx dates, I find it hard to believe that Egypt had no relations with an imaginary arbitrary modern border, or chose to magically skip modern day Israel and just conquer everything around it.