A California woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), accusing the agency of violating her First Amendment rights by revoking a personalized license plate referencing the anti-Israel slogan “from the river to the sea,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Iasmine Abdennabi, a resident of the East Bay area, filed the complaint Monday after unsuccessfully challenging the DMV’s decision through administrative proceedings.
The disputed license plate, “RVRTSEA,” refers to the pro-Palestinian Arab slogan which is chanted at anti-Israel rallies and widely associated with calls for Israel’s elimination.
According to court documents, Abdennabi applied for the personalized plate on December 15, 2023, approximately two months after Hamas carried out its October 7 massacre in Israel. The DMV approved the application, and she received the plates in May 2024.
Abdennabi maintained in her lawsuit that the lettering was intended to express support for equal rights “for all persons living between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea.”
However, the plate attracted complaints from other drivers, who argued that its message promoted hostility and violence.
“I was shocked that (the DMV) would have issued this,” one motorist wrote, referring to the department’s rules prohibiting personalized plates containing vulgar language or expressions of prejudice or hostility. “It supports terrorism and encourages violence.”
Following the complaints, the DMV initiated proceedings to withdraw the plate.
In October 2025, the department formally ordered Abdennabi to surrender it “on the ground that the plate configuration carried connotations offensive to good taste and decency in that the configuration can be read as ‘river to sea’ and interpreted as racially or ethnically degrading and negative to a specific group.”
Abdennabi appealed the decision, but an administrative law judge upheld the DMV’s position in May. The ruling took effect on September 16.
The judge determined that “the plate configuration can and does connote and/or refer to ‘genocide or creates a risk of inciting violence,'” placing it in violation of California law.
The ruling also emphasized that Abdennabi remained free to express her political views through other means, including bumper stickers or license plate frames.
Her federal lawsuit now challenges the DMV’s authority to restrict the message on constitutional grounds.
The agency has not yet submitted a response to the complaint and declined to comment on the litigation.
The case follows a separate controversy involving a California personalized license plate that appeared to make light of the October 7 Hamas attack.
The DMV previously apologized after approving a plate reading “LOLOCT7,” which drew criticism because it appeared to celebrate the massacre.
Relatives of the vehicle’s owner disputed that interpretation, explaining to local media that the lettering referred to a Filipino grandfather who drove a Tesla Cybertruck.
According to the family, “Lolo” means grandfather in Tagalog, “CT” referred to the Cybertruck, and the number “7” represented his seven children.
Meanwhile, Abdennabi’s attorney said he intends to seek a restraining order preventing the DMV from confiscating her disputed plates while the federal case proceeds.
As of Tuesday, the plates remained attached to her vehicle, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.