# UNRWA USA CEO Mara Kronenfeld on Gaza, Genocide And Jewish Identity

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/banterly-7063015/unrwa-usa-ceo-mara-kronenfeld-on-gaza-genocide-and-jewish-identity
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/banterly-7063015/unrwa-usa-ceo-mara-kronenfeld-on-gaza-genocide-and-jewish-identity.md
Podcast: [Banterly](https://stenobird.com/podcast/banterly-7063015)
Published: 2026-08-04T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/unrwa-usa-ceo-mara-kronenfeld-on-gaza-genocide-and-jewish-identity--73430453
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73430453/almir7302063722.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/banterly-7063015/episodes/unrwa-usa-ceo-mara-kronenfeld-on-gaza-genocide-and-jewish-identity
Duration seconds: 3393

## Resource

UNRWA USA CEO Mara Kronenfeld is a Jewish American woman and the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor — and she leads the American nonprofit supporting the UN agency for Palestine refugees. In this episode of Immigrantly, Saadia Khan asks her what it costs to break the script. Mara traces her path from Riverside, California to a Fulbright year in Damascus, where friendships built in Yarmouk refugee camp reshaped everything she thought she knew about the Arab world. She explains what UNRWA actually is, why it was designed to become obsolete, and answers the "UNRWA institutionalizes refugeehood" critique head-on. She describes conditions in Gaza after the October 2025 ceasefire that hasn't stopped the killing — rodents biting children in tents, women unable to afford or find menstrual supplies, a father tearing up his last clothes for his daughter. She tells the story of her colleague Hani Almadhoun, who lost two brothers in Gaza — including Chef Mahmoud of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, killed by a drone as he walked to Kamal Adwan Hospital, the hospital whose director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya remains in Israeli detention without charge to this day. And she takes apart the Board of Peace, which declared this summer that UNRWA has "no place" in Gaza's future and framed its work as perpetual aid dependency. Mara also answers the hardest one in her line of work — when a Palestinian says, "This is our story to lead," where does your voice end and theirs begin? Mara Kronenfeld is the CEO of UNRWA USA. She speaks Arabic, holds a Master's in Middle East studies, and has worked across the Middle East for more than two decades. Learn more and donate at unrwausa.org. The NYC Gaza 5K returns to Prospect Park, Brooklyn on Sunday, October 11. Keywords: UNRWA, Gaza, Palestinian refugees, Mara…

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