Sailor in Israel bothered old French writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
rabelais
'old french writer' is the definition.
(Francois Rabelais)
'sailor in israel bothered' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'bothered' indicates anagramming the letters.
'israel' is an anagram of 'relais'.
'ab' placed into 'relais' is 'RABELAIS'.
(Other definitions for rabelais that I've seen before include "Sixteenth century French satirical author" , "Creator of Gargantua" , "Francois ......., 16th century French satirist - sort of base liar" , "16th-century French satirist, noted for earthy humour" , "Racy writer" .)