DMV apologizes for license plate mocking Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The owner’s son calls it a misunderstanding

The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued an apology for an “unacceptable and disturbing” personalized license plate that the agency said displayed hate speech related to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

That was written by the watchdog organization StopAntisemitism a picture of X of the license plate on a Cybertruck that celebrated “terrorism against the Jewish people.”

In the photo, the license plate read “LOLOCT7.” LOL is an abbreviation for laugh out loud.

The watchdog organization says the plaque appears to refer to Oct. 7, when Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250. The attack triggered ongoing retaliation by Israel in neighboring Gaza.

But the son told the car’s owner KABC news that the personalized plate was not a reference to the October 7 attack, but was a reference to the owner, who is a Filipino grandfather. The LOLO on the plates means grandfather in Tagalog and the CT refers to the Cybertruck, while the 7 represents the owner’s seven children, according to the news station.

The organization said the vehicle was spotted at the intersection of Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards in Culver City.

On X, the DMV issued a statement Thursday saying the department is “taking swift action to revoke these shocking plates, and we will immediately strengthen our internal review process to ensure such egregious oversight never happens again.”

The department apologized that the personal plate was not rejected during the review process.

A department spokesman told The Times that the license plate should not have passed the review process, and after it was flagged on social media, many people who alerted the department found it offensive.

“The use of hate speech is not only a clear violation of our policies, but also a violation of our core values ​​of proudly serving the public and ensuring safe and welcoming roads,” the statement said.

According to the department’s spokesperson, the license plate owner will be notified of the language on their license plate and the revocation of their license plate. The owner of the vehicle has the right to appeal the department’s decision.

The department will review its license plate database to identify if there are any configurations of this offensive language on other license plates and recall them, the spokesman said.

“StopAntisemitism was appalled to discover a vehicle with a license plate glorifying the 10/7 massacre of innocent Israelis,” said Liora Rez, executive director of the organization.

“With the swift action of thousands of emails from our dedicated supporters, the California DMV has now revoked the plate,” she said.

Times assistant editor Luke Money contributed to this report.