The idea that the pyramids were built by Israelite labor actually seems to have appeared in public discourse in the West sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, as a general pop-cultural craze for all things Ancient Egyptian swept the west in wake of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt.

Prior to this, the very existence of the pyramids or a Ancient Egyptian civilization that was culturally distinct from either Rome, Greece or the current Arabic culture, doesn't really seem to have existed in the historical consciousness, at least in England, France and Germany. Presumably the situation was a bit different in the Middle East -- they lived next door to the damn things, and they're a bit hard to miss.

Wynn, L. L. (2008). Shape shifting lizard people, israelite slaves, and other theories of pyramid building: Notes on labor, nationalism, and archaeology in egypt. Journal of Social Archaeology, 8(2), 272-295