Australia’s Jewish community is in an uproar over a series of license plates that appear to celebrate Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Former Liberal candidate Freya Leach, a university student running in the 2023 state election, shared a photo Thursday of the license plates attached to a white Ford Ranger.
She claimed the ute was spotted in Western Sydney and asked: ‘how is this allowed?’, tagging NSW Premier Chris Minns.
It is believed that the sign, which reads ‘OCT7TH’, refers to the date when Hamas soldiers killed more than 1,000 civilians in Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.
The photo has since gone viral online and has been condemned as ‘sick’ by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA).
An offensive license plate (pictured) believed to reference the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel was spotted in Western Sydney on Thursday
“That’s so disgusting,” one outraged commenter wrote.
“How can anyone justify this?” asked another.
AJA announced late Wednesday evening that it had taken steps to hopefully have the license plates recalled and canceled.
It also alleged a complaint had previously been made to myPlates, the company responsible for all custom number plates in NSW, on January 23.
However, the plates have not yet been recalled, the Daily telegram reported.
AJA also claimed it had called for the removal of the number plate through a Sydney MP.
Ms Leach followed her tweet with another later on Wednesday, claiming she had received a message saying the license plate was ‘registered a few years earlier according to police’.
She labeled the interpretation a “very unfortunate coincidence.”
“I didn’t want to believe that a fellow countryman could be capable of such disgusting anti-Semitism,” she later wrote.
‘Unfortunately, NSW Transport has confirmed that “the license plate was actually registered in December last year – long after the attack.” Stop the hate Australia!
However, the Daily Telegraph discovered that the plates were actually registered just six weeks after the October 7 attacks last year and will expire in November 2024.
The registration was also completed within two months of Prime Minister Minns’ promise to tackle anti-Semitic license plates.
Daily Mail Australia understands that personalized plates in NSW can only be renewed for a maximum of one year, with the state website stating: ‘(Plate) bookings last for one year and are paid in advance with an annual fee.’
This means that whether the owner renewed the license plates or bought them new, he would have at least been aware of the significance of the October 7 date at the time.
Former Liberal Party candidate Freya Leach (pictured) shared a photo of the sign and wondered: ‘How is this allowed?’
MyPlates, which charges $499 a year for custom plates, says it reviews complaints about its plates once a month. The next meeting will take place on February 20.
This means the ‘OCT7TH’ sign will likely remain on the roads until the end of the month.
The company has procedures in place to filter out offensive signs, but they did not pick up the Hamas reference.
MyPlates CEO David McGrath says the company is working on new ways to process and detect offending plates.
“We will look at better ways to handle complaints faster and earlier,” he told the publication.
“We need to look at the processes of how we pick up on hate speech, looking at AI and different human intervention methods.”
In a similar act, several months ago in September 2023, a NSW motorist was caught with a license plate, ’88SIEG’ (pictured), which referred to ‘heil Hitler’ slang
Roads Minister John Graham described the signs as ‘objectively offensive’ and called on Transport for NSW to immediately recall the set containing ‘hate speech’.
“We are urgently investigating the background of this case and whether there was a deliberate act,” he said.
In a similar act in September 2023, a NSW motorist was caught with a license plate that read: ’88SIEG.’
Sieg is German for “victory,” while 88 is a white supremacist numerical code for “heil Hitler.”
Public outrage led to vows from Transport for NSW and the minister to tighten the rules around offensive plates.
Daily Mail Australia understands that personalized plates in NSW can only be renewed for a maximum of one year, with the state website stating: ‘(Plate) bookings last for one year and are paid in advance with an annual fee.’
This means that whether the owner renewed the license plates or bought them new, he would have at least been aware of the significance of the October 7 date at the time.