A 23-year-old Egyptian named Ahmed Shahat has overnight become a national sensation, especially among the youth, after scaling to the top of the 13-storey apartment building housing the Israeli embassy to bring down the Israeli flag. This feat of audacity took place around 2am Sunday morning.

Shahat, originally from Sharqiya governorate, is now known as the “Egyptian Spiderman.” He climbed onto the building next to the Israeli embassy when the military police patrols were changing shifts and then jumped onto the 13-story Israeli embassy building. When Shahat reached the Israeli embassy floor he removed the Israeli flag from the balcony and replaced it with an Egyptian flag he was wearing on his back.

The security forces urged him to come down, while the protesters urged him to complete his mission, despite fears for his life. In a quick interview with Al Jazeera Mubashar Misr, Shahat said that while he was climbing he saw an army officer  standing at a window on the 8th floor. Shahat gave a thumb up to the officer, who, accoring to Shahat gave him the same sign in return.

On his way down one of neighbours opened his balcony and let him in to rest and to use the elevator to get the rest of the way down. When he came out of the building he was given a hero's welcome by the thousands protesters sitting in before the embassy building, who carried him on their shoulders, chanting anti-Isreali slogans.

Shahat is now a hero in Egypt, especially among young Egyptians who, in no time, made him Facebook Fan pages and special hashtags in Twitter, like #Flagman.

Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff drew Shahat as Spiderman burning down the Israeli flag.

Thousands of Egyptian protesters have been demonstrating at the Israeli embassy since the attack on Egyptian security forces last Thursday, demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and proper reactions from the government.