California apologizes over car plate mocking Israel attack

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California has apologized for allowing someone in the US state to register a license plate mocking the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The apology comes after activist group StopAntisemitism flagged a Tesla Cybertruck seen around Los Angeles sporting a plate that read “LOLOCT7,” which it said celebrated “terrorism against the Jewish people.”

LOL is a common abbreviation for “laughing out loud.”

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said on social media on Thursday that it would be acting to rescind the plate, which fell foul of its own rules.

“This is unacceptable and disturbing,” the agency wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“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.

“We sincerely apologize that these personalized plates were not properly rejected during our review process.”