A pair of anti-Semitic personalized number plates on the back of a car that angered Australians have now been recalled.
A white Ford Ranger with the NSW license plate ‘OCT7TH’ was spotted on Sydney roads, and a photo of it was shared widely on social media.
The license plate appeared to reference Hamas’ attacks on October 7, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds.
Many hostages are still being held captive in Gaza.
Former Liberal candidate Freya Leach shared an image on her X account asking a question to NSW Premier Chris Minns.
‘Seen in Western Sydney. @ChrisMinnsMP how is this allowed?’ she wrote.
Main Road Minister John Graham said on Thursday he took immediate action after being made aware of the plates.
A white Ford Ranger with the NSW license plate ‘OCT7TH’ was spotted on Sydney roads, and a photo of it was shared widely on social media. The plates have now been recalled
Former Liberal Party candidate Freya Leach shared the photo of the number plate on her X account and asked the NSW Premier how the plates could be allowed
“As soon as I heard about this, we ordered a recall,” he told 2GB.
‘It used to take up to a month before the license plates could be recalled. Transport immediately intervened.
‘Given the tensions in the world, I was not happy about that. As Minister of Roads, we have shortened that process and the request is now that these license plates are received within 48 hours.’
Mr Graham said if the owner does not surrender the relevant number plates, the car’s registration will be ‘completely cancelled’.
Ms Leach said an
Transport for NSW has rejected the claims news.com.au the offending license plate was registered in December 2023 – after the attacks.
The Hamas attacks in southern Israel led to an ongoing battle with Israeli forces.
The death toll in Gaza has passed 27,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.
About 85 percent of Gaza’s civilians have been displaced as a result of the airstrikes and ground operations.
On October 7, coordinated attacks by Hamas fighters killed more than a thousand Israeli civilians, with hundreds kidnapped. It led to a counterattack and the death toll in Gaza has passed 27,000. 85 percent of Gaza’s civilians have been displaced as a result of the airstrikes and ground operations
Robert Gregory, CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, told Daily Mail Australia the license plate is very “concerning”.
“A wave of anti-Semitism has spread across Australia and the license plate is a symptom of that,” he said.
“We raised it with an MP yesterday, but these things keep happening.”
Mr Gregory said there had been incidents involving number plates in the past and a system needed to be put in place to prevent this from happening again.
‘It’s crazy. “I understand that an employee may not have realized what the date meant, but once it was brought up he should have acted more quickly,” he said.
“It needs to be treated seriously when it comes up.
“It is extremely worrying for the Jewish community that there are people in our society who celebrate terrorist attacks and murder, and they live in the same city as them.
“It feels like the focus on October 7 disappeared very quickly and quickly left people’s minds.
Transport for NSW introduced stricter screening processes after a neo-Nazi license plate went undetected last year. A motorist noticed the license plate 88-SIEG on a car – eighty-eight is coded slang for ‘Heil Hitler’ and sieg is the German word for ‘victory’
“We attribute this to the fact that the government and Penny Wong do not support Israel. Penny Wong refused to visit the sites of the massacre.
“It’s important for leaders to send the right message to the community and we won’t see that on October 7.”
When assessing whether a personalized license plate application is appropriate, authorities use a combination of automatic and manual processing.
A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said an investigation was underway.
“We apologize that the date was not found to be offensive and for any subsequent offense or inconvenience,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, in this case, the filtering process did not identify the combination.”