For those who look at the relationship of Israel to the USA on the stylised UN symbol, one could be forgive to think that the USA was to the north of Israel by passing over the Artic regions of the earth. It is also true from a standard map projection that the USA appears to be to the west of Israel.
To be honest, Babylon, Assyria, Persia are not really to the north of Israel however as they spread out into their occupied lands, they all could be said to be north of Israel.
To me, it seems that people get hung up on the precision of the direction rather than on the indicative direct of the statement.
Strictly speaking Rome was to the west of Israel but it to was considered to be a nation to the north of Israel
Shalom