The California DMV, aka Department of Motor Vehicles, has come under fire for allegedly issuing a personalized license plate that depicted hate speech against the October 7 attack on Israel.
Per CNN news, the agency has since issued an apology for the “unacceptable and disturbing” plate, though the son of the vehicle owner's relatives has come forward to assert that the whole thing has been misconstrued. The incident can be traced back to December 12, when an X user posted a photo with the license plate "LOLOCT17." LOL is an abbreviation for Laugh Out Loud.
California DMV issues an apology for the license plate as owner's son says it's not what it looks like
The image, posted by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism, was accompanied by the following caption:
"StopAntisemitism is appalled by the sickening display on a Cyber Truck plate in California, celebrating terrorism against the Jewish people."
In follow-up posts, it went on:
"The vehicle was spotted at the intersection of Jefferson Blvd & Sepulveda Blvd in Culver City. How did this get processed, @CA_DMV? Demand the @CA_DMV recall this license plate that celebrates the October 7th terrorist attack—a vile mockery of the 1,200 innocent lives lost and the countless others scarred."
On October 7, Hamas militants opened fire on Israel, claiming the lives of hundreds and triggering the latter to wage retaliation against the Palestinians living in Gaza.
The vehicle owner's son told ABC7 News that the California DMV license plate can also be construed as LOLO-CT-7. He explained that his family is Filipino, and in Tagalog, lolo stands for grandfather, CT for Cybertruck, which is the car model, and 7 stands for the truck owner's seven grandchildren.
"I think this is just a total big misunderstanding," the son told the outlet. "Whenever you do a vanity plate, you have to put in a description of whatever your plate means."
Nonetheless, the California DMV has since issued an apology in a post, uploaded on social media post on Thursday.
"This is unacceptable and disturbing. The DMV is taking swift action to recall these shocking plates, and we will immediately strengthen our internal review process to ensure such an egregious oversight never happens again."
Per The Sun, their statement goes on to say:
"The use of hateful language is not only a clear violation of our core values to proudly serve the public and ensure safe and welcoming roadways.”
Per the outlet, the Tesla Cybertruck owner is now recalling the California DMV license plate and reiterating that they meant no offense to anyone.
"We have great empathy for anyone who has experienced any hatred," the son said. "And we would really appreciate, in turn, for anyone that's seeing this or hearing this to have any empathy toward our family because we had no ill intent for anything."
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As for the tensions between Israel and Palestinians, over 45,000 people have lost their lives in the last 14 months alone, the Palestinian Ministry of Health claimed, per The Sun. Over 106,000 people are injured, and well over 11,000 people are missing.
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