CAIRO -- As a modern Egyptian legend, it lasted just under a week.

At the height of a noisy Egyptian protest against Israel, a young man named Ahmed el-Shahat inserted himself into folklore by scaling a multistory building to reach the Israeli Embassy, removing its blue-and-white flag and raising the Egyptian banner in its place.

The Spider-Man-like ascent was recorded on grainy video, inevitably posted to YouTube. The descending climber, a hero to the crowd, was instantly propelled onto the front page of Egyptian newspapers and magazines and accorded his own Twitter hashtag, #Flagman.

His rebellious ascent thrilled the crowd and many across this nation. To them, it seemed to epitomize a new Egyptian boldness after years of perceived passivity under President Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian news media reported that Flagman had been honored by his home governorate -- and given a flat and a job as a reward.

But like so many aspects of Egypt's revolution, the jubilation was soon met with a sobering second act: a rival soon emerged, claiming to be the real Flagman, clouding the legend in a murky haze of televised bickering, recriminations and credit claiming.

Egyptian newspapers carried the story of the dispute, with one running photographs of the two men and a headline: "The Battle of the Flag Rages On."

The climb symbolized the protest during which it happened. Egypt's anger was directed at Israel because of a series of cross-border killings on the Sinai frontier between the two countries. On Aug. 18, Palestinian militants carried out an attack in southern Israel, near the Egyptian border, and eight Israelis were killed.

Israeli security forces chasing the militants fired into Egypt, killing at least three Egyptian soldiers in circumstances that are being investigated.

There was confusion over whether the Egyptian government intended to respond by withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv -- it later said it did not -- and a general recognition that the crisis marked the beginning of a new era in relations between Israel and Egypt after the departure of Mr. Mubarak, who had bottled up Egyptian public anger toward Israel.

The rival for the Flagman title, Moustafa Kamel, claimed that both he and Mr. Shahat started to climb the building in a joint endeavor, but that Mr. Shahat failed to reach the top and waited for him while he ascended.

As he was descending, Mr. Kamel said, he threw the Israeli flag down to Mr. Shahat only to reach the ground and find Mr. Shahat already receiving acclaim. Mr. Shahat maintains that he acted alone.

On Sunday, the men appeared together on El Mehwar television channel to give their own version of events, trying to prove the other man wrong by quizzing each other on the details of the climb and comparing wounds.

During the angry face-off, Mr. Shahat said: "We are not here today to fight or to say who put the Egyptian flag up and who didn't. Whether I put the flag up or Moustafa did, the goal was realized."

Mr. Kamel said, "I didn't climb the building for any personal gain, and if Ahmed thinks that I climbed it for fame, he is wrong."

The dispute has also spread to social media. On Facebook, contributors to the page "Ahmed el-Shahat lovers" trade barbs with supporters of Mr. Kamel, each going through the details of the accounts to find flaws and inconsistencies.

Others regard it as an unwelcome distraction. Mohamed Nabil, who writes as Kekyaxe on Twitter, sent the dismissive message: "Who brought the Israeli flag down? This is the epic question that will determine the success of the revolution, will solve unemployment and will achieve social justice."

First Published: August 30, 2011, 4:00 a.m.