President Barack Obama

An Iranian mob rampaged in Tehran, the capital of Iran, setting fire to posters with pictures of the United States President-elect, Barack Obama. They also waved Palestinian flags, showing their solidarity with the people of Gaze and hostility towards Israel, which is waging war on Hamas. It is common for Iranian demonstrators to burn effigies or pictures of American presidents in protests. This marked the first time that a foreign protest involved defacing an image of Barack Obama, who is to be sworn in as the 44^th U.S. President on January 20^th.

Iran has often attacked both Israel and the United States. The Iranian leadership has strongly condemned the Israeli military action in Gaza.

In addition to burning a picture of Obama, some of the demonstrators chanted, “Death to Obama,” while marching in the Iranian capital.

The fighting that has erupted between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip will push up the Middle East to the top of the Obama agenda, at a time when President-elect Barack Obama would prefer to focus almost exclusively on the U.S. economy.

Barack Obama will be seeking to improve the public image of the United States in the Arab and Muslim world, which has severely deteriorated during the Bush presidency. He must also demonstrate traditional political support for Israel. His public stance on the issue of Hamas firing rockets from Gaza into Israel elicited the following comment from Barack Obama:

“If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that,” … “And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

Will Obama be able to show that he can be a balanced American president in addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict, or will he be perceived as too pro-Israeli by the Arab world? The fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians has truly come at a challenging time for the incoming Obama administration.