Lo-Am: From Babylonians to Hamas

This morning, as I listened to the Torah reading, one verse in Shirat Ha’azinu spoke to me. It felt like Moshe’s swan song was not only describing events of long ago but could have been ripped straight from today’s headlines.

They provoked Me with Lo-El — no-god… And I will provoke them with Lo-Am — a no-people; with a foolish nation I will anger them.
(Devarim 32:21)

Who is this Lo-Am, this “no-people”?

Rashi explains it as the Babylonians. Ramban deepens it: a people without wisdom, morality, or true cohesion. When Israel strays toward Lo-El, toward emptiness and false gods, God allows Lo-Am, emptiness masquerading as a nation, to rise against us.

Ancient Babylon: a fleeting empire

The Babylonians who destroyed the First Temple barely lasted a century. They conquered, exiled, and burned, but then they vanished from the stage of history. No enduring culture. No lasting contribution. Just destruction, followed by silence. The classic example of a Lo-Am.

The “Palestinian people”: a modern Lo-Am?

Fast forward to our time. The Palestinian national identity was invented in the mid-20th century. The PLO, founded in 1964 with Arab and Soviet support, reframed the conflict. It was no longer Israel versus the vast Arab world, but Israel versus a supposedly indigenous “Palestinian people.”

But this identity has always been reactive, not creative. Built not on vision, but on negation. Today Hamas carries that emptiness forward. It is fractured, propped up by foreign sponsors, and has no constructive vision. Its unity comes only from one obsession: erasing Israel. A contemporary Lo-Am.

The Torah’s warning

Moshe’s words are not a history lesson. They are a mirror. When Israel loses its anchor, “no-people” rush in to fill the void.

Our answer has to be the opposite of emptiness:

• Reclaim depth: an identity rooted in Torah values and Jewish unity.
• Expose falsehood: show the hollowness of an identity built only on negation.
• Reject false equivalence: one side builds, the other destroys.
• Stay strong: spiritually and nationally. Our weakness feeds their strength.

The closing chord

Shirat Ha’azinu is eternal because it repeats in every generation. Once it was the Babylonians. Today it is Hamas and the so-called “Palestinian people.” Tomorrow it may be another Lo-Am.

But the Torah’s song assures us: when Israel chooses strength over emptiness, Torah values over hatred, unity over division, no Lo-Am can endure.