The Israeli flag was back in place on top of the Israeli Embassy building in Cairo on Monday after being taken down twice in the past week amid demonstrations.
An Egyptian mob crowned a new hero two weeks ago when Ahmed el-Shahat scaled the 15-story Israeli Embassy and tore down the blue-and-white flag. Shahat's act led to his being dubbed “Flagman” and brought him widespread admiration on the Egyptian street. He was even rewarded with a job and an apartment by the governor of the Sharqiyah district northeast of Cairo.
The Egyptian public has voiced its anger over the killing of five Egyptian policemen along the Israel-Egypt border two weeks ago during an Israeli exchange of gunfire with Palestinian terrorists.
Following the killings, angry crowds gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in the Giza quarter of Cairo. Thousands of demonstrators called for “revenge for the death of our Egyptian soldier brothers.” Some called for toppling Israel while others shouted, “Expel the ambassador,” and “Slaughter Jews and Zionists.”
“Our Egyptian brothers are being killed on the border by Zionist soldiers and we must avenge their deaths,” Shahat said at a press conference. “We have to stop selling natural gas to Israel and we need to expel the ambassador and his staff from our country. The Zionists may have gotten along well with [former President Hosni] Mubarak's regime, but there is a new order in Egypt now, one that does not welcome the Israeli enemy. It is unacceptable for the Israeli flag to wave in Cairo.”
After Shahat removed the flag, a new standard was placed on the building the following day, only to be removed once more, this time by Egyptian police in response to the urging of crowds protesting outside the embassy. In what was viewed as an affront to Israel, reports said Egyptian authorities had refused to reinstate the flag because they were reportedly unable to protect it.
Following diplomatic efforts, the flag was raised once again on Monday. “Guarding national symbols is part of a nation's strength,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Shahat's “Flagman” status was being contested by fellow Egyptian Moustafa Kamel, who says he was Shahat's accomplice and that he was in fact the one who took down the Israeli flag. Shahat and Kamel have been comparing stories and debating each on other on Egyptian television to stake their claim as the true Flagman, the report said.
