CAIRO – Earlier this week, a young Egyptian scaled a 21-storey building in Giza to be lauded as a hero by millions across the Arab world. Ahmed el-Shahat, a 23-year-old carpenter, without using a rope, scaled the block of flats in Giza in which the Israeli Embassy is located. When he reached the top floor, he took down Israel's flag and replaced it with Egypt's. El-Shahat was determined to do this, even if it were to cost him his life. Thanks to his ebullience, astounding grit and patriotic spirit, el-Shahat, better known as ‘Flagman', managed to remove Israel's Star of David flag and hoist up the Egyptian one over the Israeli Embassy, to the joy of thousands of Egyptian protesters in the street way below. "Egyptians were delighted. They set off fire- works and honked their car horns; everyone was celebrating. It was like a carnival. All thanks to the Flagman," 23-year-old producer Moustafa Khalil, who was one of the protest- ers outside the Israeli Embassy, told The Egyptian Gazette. El-Shahat's spectacular feat came amidst the recent escalation between Egypt and Israel over the killing of five Egyptian soldiers on the Sinai border, as Israeli troops were pursu- ing militants allegedly responsible for deadly attacks on two Israeli troop convoys near Eilat. Thousands of Egyptians rallied outside the Israeli Embassy to express their anger at Israel. In an interview with Egyptian Television, el- Shahat said: "We want to expel the people who are killing us. These Jews and Zionists are part of the old regime, and we want to cut all our ties with the old regime." Amazed by el-Shahat's heroic act, el- Sharqiya Governor Azazi Ali Azazi said: "El- Shahat stunned the world by risking his life and climbing 21 storeys to raise his country's flag." Azazi has given Flagman, news of whose feat swiftly spread around the world, a flat and a job. Carlos Latoff, a Brazilian political cartoon- ist, immortalised this incident with a cartoon depicting Ahmed el-Shahat as Spiderman, wearing a suit with the colours of the Egyptian flag. The social networking websites Facebook and Twitter were abuzz with posts, showing both the Egyptians' jubilation with the anti- Zionist Spiderman and also their sense of humour. One Twitter user, for example, wrote: "Israel has a pilotless aircraft and we have pilots who fly without aircraft.” And another wag wrote: "Israel has accused Egypt of harbouring weapons of flag destruction."
