I sat down to talk to two Louisiana residents who have personal connections, thoughts, feelings and experiences tied to the war in Gaza.
One Palestinian-American woman living in Lafayette welcomed me into her home and shared her emotions. A Jewish Rabbi living in Baton Rouge and splitting his time teaching between Baton Rouge and Lake Charles came to the KATC station— maps, charts and religious texts in hand— to share how he was feeling.
In our conversations, I asked them each the same questions and allowed the conversation to flow naturally from there with additional questions as needed.
This is the full interview with Haneen Elwishahi, a Palestinian-American woman, housewife and mother of three. The only cuts made are in accordance with breaks in filming.
Elwishahi references events and time frames within her interview. Please note this interview was filmed on Oct. 16.
A brief quote from the response to each question is outlined below, but you can find the full answers in the recorded interview at the top of the story.
How has the war directly affected your day-to-day life?
"Sometimes I feel like I'm operating on flight mode. Like, I'm trying to feed my kids, trying to keep my house in order and—but my brain is, like, foggy because the thoughts come and go as to what's going on over there."
Have you noticed people treating you differently?
"I can't make many statements about that because I honestly have not really left my house a lot in the past 10 days."
How has the war affected your family?
"I'm affected because I try to keep up with the news and it's honestly, like, it makes you heavy-hearted, and the kids can basically sense that, but I try as hard as possible to just keep going and go on with my life and, you know, feed my kids, clean my house, do the homework stuff and, yeah, stuff like that. So, it hasn't affected the family as a whole because, again, my kids are young but definitely affected me, as an adult, and my husband."
Do you have family or friends in Gaza or Israel?
"Not me personally. Not in Gaza. So, I have relatives and friends who live in the West Bank, which is not directly affected now, but in Gaza, I don't—I don't have any friends or relatives. However, my husband does."
If so, are your family and friends safe?
It was difficult to get a clean, direct quote to this answer, but Elwishahi shared a story with me about her husband's cousin's home being bombed and she and her family fleeing. They went some time without contact from them but were eventually able to reach them and found out they were okay.
What misconceptions do you believe the average Acadiana resident holds about the war?
"It's more like the misuse of terms. Referring to what's going on over there as a conflict when it's, in my opinion and many other people's opinion, it's not because— to call it conflict, you're implying that both sides are equal, and that's not the case. A lot of misconceptions, like, people think that Gaza and Hamas are the same, and that's not true, and people think Gaza is a different country and then Israel is a different country. That's not true. It's the same land."
What misconceptions do you believe the average Acadiana resident holds about Palestinians?
"Well, first of all, they say, again, that Palestine never existed, which means, where did I come from? Where am I from?"
What misconceptions do you believe the average Acadiana resident holds about Israelis?
"The misconception is that Israel does not, as a government—as a government, does not represent all the Jewish community. It's just something that we need to know. We need to differentiate between the religion and the government."
What do you want to say to the residents of Acadiana?
"I'm also an American, and I'm part of this community, and I love this community, and I try to give back to this community when I can, and it hurts to see that some people in this community are not fully aware of the situation, so I urge the people to try and find more information before taking sides."
What is your biggest wish?
"Peace."
Please explain how we are all affected by what is happening in the war.
"So, that implies that I definitely think that it does affect Americans, and I can't—I can't say that you need to care or you have to care."
Please explain why, if they don't, people should care.
"So, I don't want to contradict myself when I say you have to care or you don't have to because I can't force people to do that, but I think that this is a major turn in history. This is a major turn in history, and when major turns take place, you have to be on a side."
What changes do you want to see?
"Definitely more truth in the news outlets because it does affect people immediately."
Please explain how you have been affected mentally and emotionally by this war.
"I mean, simplest way put, I have not been okay, and sometimes I'm crying, sometimes I'm overthinking, sometimes I don't sleep well because I'm trying—like, honestly, somehow guilt travels through your heart. You're like, 'How come I can be safe and happy and just because I'm on this side of the world and then other women and children are not okay because they're on that side of the world?'"
How does it make you feel to talk about this?
"I mean, again, I'm glad that I get to do so, but it does make me feel emotional because every time I say words and talk about this, there's, like, this pain that overtakes me, you know? You can't be talking about the suffering of people and, like, not feel a certain way."
Do you feel you've been misrepresented by the coverage of the war?
"We haven't been represented in the first place."
Is there anything else you want to say?
"At the end, I just want to make sure that I've covered the major points that I want to get through, that the land was, before 1948, a Palestinian land. It was. There's documentaries, there's stuff about it. There's actual documentation, legitimate stuff that you can look at, even though a lot of people—a lot of people on Instagram, Facebook debate the opposite."
This is one part of a two-part series, where we also spoke with Jewish Rabbi Barry L. Weinstein. To watch that full interview or read the quotes of his responses, click here.
