While Benjamin Netanyahu was delivering a fiery speech to Congress, another Israeli challenged the U.S. by just standing there — and succeeded spectacularly.

Stuntman Hezi Dean balanced atop a pole in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square for 35 consecutive hours, toppling magician David Blaine’s record.

“It was very hard. I want to tell you only one important sentence: Nothing stands in front of the will,” Dean said in Hebrew following the stunt.

It’s not the first time Dean has tried to outdo Blaine. Last year, the Israeli tough guy endured 66 hours in an ice cube, beating the half-Jewish Blaine’s 63-hour milestone set in 2000.

For the pole trick, Dean “had no food, but he did have a catheter and the strength of will to stand for 35 hours,” reported PerezHilton.com. “You’ve just been OWNED, David Blaine!”, crowed Hilton, apparently a fan of bald, sturdy Israelis himself.

It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.

This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions. 

We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.

As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday! 

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a gift and our board will match it.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$129 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT