Photo of Israeli Flydubai hero goes viral for resemblance to Trump’s fist-raising moment

Surrounded by Secret Service agents with an American flag visible behind him, Trump raised his fist and shouted, “Fight!”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A bloodied, fist-raised photograph of Asaf Rajuan, the Israeli passenger who helped overpower a terrorist accused of trying to crash a flydubai aircraft last month, has gone viral after online users noticed its resemblance to Donald Trump’s celebrated photograph following the July 2024 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Rajuan said the pose was unintentional. The photograph was taken aboard the aircraft after the September 30 confrontation with the co-pilot but before the plane had landed.

“I didn’t plan it,” Rajuan told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

The Israeli father of two had gone toward the cockpit after his wife and daughters were thrown into the air as the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight plunged.

“I saw the end of their lives before my eyes,” he recalled.

After the struggle, Rajuan sent his photograph to relatives and friends and initially failed to notice the blood on his face.

“People told me to touch my face. I didn’t even understand what they were talking about,” he told the Post.

Social media users subsequently placed Rajuan’s image beside a photograph taken more than two years earlier by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci.

In both, a bloodied man faces the camera with his right fist raised.

Vucci photographed Trump on July 13, 2024, moments after a bullet grazed the then-presidential candidate’s ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Surrounded by Secret Service agents with an American flag visible behind him, Trump raised his fist and shouted “Fight!”

That photograph became one of the most recognizable images of the 2024 presidential campaign, appearing on newspaper front pages and the cover of Time magazine.

Its reach also extended into internet culture.

Meme-tracking website Know Your Meme recorded numerous illustrations, parodies and adaptations, while an early post by Elon Musk drew well over 176 million views and three million likes.

Rajuan told Channel 12 that he found the comparison amusing and said his gesture had been entirely spontaneous.

His photograph was taken after he helped confront the co-pilot accused of attempting to crash the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.