York University staff and students campaign for donations for former student trapped in Gaza

The campaign has encouraged 200 more GoFundMe donations for Fadi Hania

8 months ago

University of York’s Palestinian Solidarity Society (PalSoc) has launched a campaign for a York alumnus who is currently trapped in a tent in Gaza with his wife and five children.

Since the launch of the campaign on Tuesday 2nd April 2024 by the society, the GoFundMe page has seen an increase of over €6,000 as 200 donations have been made since Tuesday by students, staff, and the local community.

The campaign is an effort to raise awareness for the “perilous” situation Fadi Hania is in and calls for the people of York to donate as much as possible to Fadi via a GoFundMe set up by Fadi’s employer in France to raise €50,000 to pay for the family’s visas.

Palestinian Solidarity Society launched the campaign also to call on the University of York to donate to Fadi and support the campaign: “The University of York must, as a university for public good and a University of Sanctuary, donate generously to Fadi to help evacuate Fadi and his family from Gaza. They need urgent humanitarian intervention after Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.”

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Talking to PalSoc about their actions for launching the campaign, PalSoc told The York Tab: “John Bibby, a retired maths professor from the University of York, got in contact with PalSoc, asking if the society can do anything.

“We decided that we needed to show that our student and staff community stand with Fadi and his family as they seek urgent humanitarian intervention to be evacuated from Gaza.”

“We are aware that Fadi’s GoFundMe hadn’t received nearly enough donations to evacuate Fadi and his family from Gaza. Unfortunately, visa costs have now spiralled to over £5,000 per person.

“We decided to come together as a society and student community to try and support Fadi and his family, which is why we launched our online social media awareness-raising campaign.

“We call on the University of York to take urgent and immediate action and to stand by their alumni.”

via Fadi Hania on Linkedin

18 societies at the Uni of York have shown their support for Fadi and endorsed the Palestinian Solidarity Society’s call for donations, including York Action for Student Solidarity, Pakistan Society, Litsoc, Amnesty Society York, World Cinema, Movie Society, York Student Action for Refugees (STAR), Lawyers without Borders, BAME Network, British Asian Society, Feminist Society, Norman Rea Gallery, Politics Society, Islamic Society, The York Anti-Colonial Reading Group, Extinction Rebellion University of York Hub, Malaysian Society, and York Anti-Racist Collective.

When asked about the progress that its campaign has spurred, PalSoc said: “The support from the student society’s students, staff and the local community shows that York stands with the Palestinian people as they are subjected to Israel’s campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

PalSoc has donated €350 of their society funds and STAR has donated €300 of their society funds. PalSoc left a comment with their donation: “This is from the Palestinian Solidarity Society based at the University of York. We stand with you and your family Fadi. We urge everyone to support this important and urgent campaign.”

Fadi was studying for a Master’s degree in software engineering at the Uni of York in 2012 and his 11-year-old son, Yousef, was born in York Hospital. The family, originally from Gaza City, were displaced along with the estimated 1.7 million people when Israel invaded Gaza on October 7th 2023.

After graduating, Fadi became a web designer and teacher. He has worked for ALGOSUP, a French international software development school in Vierzon, France. The company has written to the Egyptian embassy in France, urging them to allow the Hania family to cross the border into Egypt. Franck Jeannin, the co-founder of ALGOSUP, set up the GoFundMe page. Currently, a total of €23,179 has been donated to the GoFundMe.

Featured image via @uoypalsoc on Instagram.