California apologizes over ‘LOLOCT7’ license plate

California has apologized for allowing someone in the US state to register a license plate mocking Hamas’s October 7 onslaught against Israel.

The apology comes after an activist group 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) says on social media that it will be acting to rescind the plate, which fell foul of its own rules.

“This is unacceptable and disturbing,” the agency writes on X.

“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.”

There are over 30 million vehicles in California, the vast majority of which have regular license plates.

But the DMV allows drivers — for an extra fee — to personalize plates, provided the resulting message does not “carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency,” according to its website.

Examples of banned plates include swear words, and racially or ethnically degrading terms.