US license plate dispute drags the meaning of ‘from the river to the sea’ into court

A California driver, Iasmine Abdennabi, sued the state's Department of Motor Vehicles for revoking her "RVRTSEA" license plate, a reference to the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." The DMV and a state administrative judge held the phrase could refer to genocide or incitement; the federal suit claims a First Amendment violation.

A California driver sued the state's Department of Motor Vehicles this week for revoking her personalized license plate, which read "RVRTSEA," a reference to the protest slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Iasmine Abdennabi filed the civil case against DMV head Steve Gordon in the federal US District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming a violation of her constitutional rights. State authorities had ruled the slogan could refer to genocide or risk inciting violence. Abdennabi says the phrase indicates "support for equal civil and political rights" in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Advocates of the slogan describe it as a call for equal rights between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea; critics, including many Jewish groups, say it is a call for the violent elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. The Arabic version translates to "From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab," and the Hamas terror group has used the phrase. Abdennabi requested the plate in December 2023, two months after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, as political expression, according to the complaint, which says she did not intend to threaten Jews or call for genocide or violence. California bars personalized plates containing "fighting words" such as references to genocide or incitement. The department issued the plate in May 2024 and revoked it in October 2025, demanding its return after at least two drivers filed complaints. One complainant wrote that it "advocates for the extermination of the State of Israel and all Jewish people." A judge at the California Office of Administrative Hearings affirmed the cancellation, saying the slogan could refer to genocide or violence and was "offensive to good taste and decency," noting Abdennabi could express the same sentiment with a bumper sticker. The lawsuit seeks to overturn that decision, arguing the revocation caused "irreparable injury to her First Amendment rights" and that reading the slogan as violent is "speculative" and amounts to a "heckler's veto." Federal court rulings can set precedents for other cases.