San Diego center refuses to remove Day of the Dead altar honoring Hamas and Hezbollah leaders

A cultural center in San Diego's Balboa Park has refused to take down a Day of the Dead altar honoring leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, rejecting demands from California state lawmakers and local Jewish organizations over the past week.

Ofrendas, the altars erected each year in early November for the Mesoamerican tradition of remembering the dead, usually display candles, marigolds and photographs of deceased loved ones, though community art spaces sometimes broaden them into political statements. This year's altar at the Centro Cultural de la Raza, a Chicano and Indigenous arts institution housed in a city-owned building in San Diego's premier public park, featured portraits of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida and Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, placed alongside photos of deceased Palestinian children and journalists.

Early images of the display also showed flags associated with Hezbollah and the Houthis bearing Arabic text that translates to 'God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse to Jews, victory to Islam.'

California State Senator Steve Padilla and Assemblymember Chris Ward issued a joint statement last Thursday condemning the exhibit and demanding its immediate removal. 'These organizations are responsible for the mass murder of civilians, and honoring their leaders in what is a sacred tradition in the Latino culture is wrong,' they said, adding: 'This was not merely an error in judgment; it was reckless incitement and must be removed immediately.'

The two lawmakers also pressed municipal authorities to step in because the venue operates on city-owned land. 'The leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah are not the honorable dead of our community,' they wrote, asking the City of San Diego to engage with its lessee and ensure that all members of the public are respected.

On Monday, the Finest Community Coalition, an umbrella group uniting 49 Jewish organizations across the region, among them the Jewish Federation of San Diego, AJC San Diego, the Anti-Defamation League San Diego, the Lawrence Family JCC, the Jewish Community Foundation San Diego and the Leichtag Foundation, published an open letter calling on the center's leadership to take down the altar. 'This is not remembrance. It is a shrine to terrorism on display in one of San Diego's most beloved public spaces,' the coalition wrote.

The Hezbollah and Houthi flags were subsequently removed after the altar was erected, but the portraits of Sinwar, Abu Obeida and Soleimani remained on view. In an Instagram statement last Friday, the center rejected the demands to dismantle the exhibit, accusing critics of seeking to 'wipe away the crimes of, and complicity with, Israel,' and calling the pressure 'a blatant trampling on our First Amendment protections.' It added: 'We stand firm in the right to mourn all loss of life, including those at the hands of Israeli aggression.'

The dispute escalated last Friday when Daniel La Salle, a Jewish-Mexican San Diego State University alumnus wearing a kippah and a US-Israel pin, entered the center during advertised public hours for a film screening and objected to the inclusion of terrorist leaders on the altar, according to a report he co-authored for San Diego Jewish World. La Salle said staff members physically ejected him from the premises in an incident that was recorded on video.

Adam Maslia, director of the Finest Community Coalition, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the only action taken had been 'the unacceptable half measure of removing the flags of Hezbollah, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Houthis.' Noting that the country had honored its veterans for Veterans Day the day before, he added: 'I can't think of a more disrespectful affront to our service members than for this altar continuing to be displayed to the public.'