While the term “Asian” can encompass a much broader group of people than just East Asians, I think it’s generally assumed that when you say “Asian,” you’re referring to an East Asian. It’s not incorrect to call someone from Israel an Asian. However, normally people would refer to a more specific region in Asia, e.g. in the case of Israel, the Middle East.
Actually, this is taken right off of one of dictionary.com’s definitions of Asian (click here to go to the page):
Quote:
Usage Note: Asia is the largest of the continents with more than half the world’s population. Though strictly speaking all of its inhabitants are Asians, in practice this term is applied almost exclusively to the peoples of East, Southeast, and South Asia as opposed to those of Southwest Asia—such as Arabs, Turks, Iranians, and Kurds—who are more usually designated Middle or Near Easterners. Indonesians and Filipinos are properly termed Asian, since their island groups are considered part of the Asian continent, but not the Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians of the central and southern Pacific, who are now often referred to collectively as Pacific Islanders. See Usage Note at Oriental.