Egyptian becomes hero after removing Israeli flag from embassy

"When I went up the steps of the embassy, I thought of the blood of the Egyptian victims," that was how Ahmad A-Shahat described his "act of heroism," which won the support of the masses in Egypt – taking down the Israeli flag from its embassy building in Cairo.

More on the tensions with Egypt: 

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The unknown Egyptian managed to climb on the embassy's roof on Saturday, switch the Israeli flag with the Egyptian one to the cheers of thousands, and then burn the Israeli flag.

Watch A-Shahat on the roof of the embassy:

"If we want to take down Mubarak, we must take down all his allies and especially the Zionists in Egypt. They had many investments during Mubarak's era. We must expel them and their investments if we want to eradicate Mubarak's regime," A-Shahat said after coming down from the roof.

A-Shahat a hero among Egyptians

A-Shahat said he had succeeded in climbing on the roof by taking advantage of a swap between the security patrols. As expected, he also became a hit on Facebook and several glorifying fan pages have already been established in his honor.

The young Egyptian also linked his actions to events on the border on Thursday, when six Egyptian soldiers were killed, saying that it was "the simple reaction to what Israel did to Egyptian soldiers in Sinai." He expressed hope that his actions would be repeated by "a billion Arabs."

Egyptians try to torch embassy by hurling firecrackers:

The incident on the border stirred a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Cairo. Egypt's cabinet said on Sunday that an Israeli statement expressing regret for the border deaths was not enough, but it stopped short of saying if it would recall its Tel Aviv envoy.

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