Obama-mania spreads to France as a row breaks out over publication of his private prayer



An Israeli newspaper is under fire after publishing a private prayer which Barack Obama left at Judaism's holiest site.



The row broke out as the U.S. Presidential candidate visited France as part of his whistlestop tour. Obama had tucked his prayer into the cracks of the Western Wall early yesterday morning.



'Lord - Protect my family and me,' read the note, published in the newspaper Maariv today. 'Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.'

'Protect my family': the prayer left by Barack Obama

Many visitors to the 2,000-year-old Western Wall leave notes bearing requests and prayers. But the rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, said publishing the note intruded into Obama's relationship with God.

'The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them,' he said.

The publication 'damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves,' he added.

The handwriting appeared to match a message Obama had left in the guest book at Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial, and was written on stationery from the King David Hotel, where Obama stayed while in Israel.

Old friends: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes Barack Obama at the Elysee Palace in Paris

Ignoring the row tonight Obama instead spoke out about Iran, at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Speaking with reporters Obama said Iran should accept European Union proposals made by Sarkozy and other Western leaders to freeze its uranium enrichment program. He urged Iran's leaders not to wait for the next U.S. president to pressure them 'because the pressure, I think, is only going to build.'

The United States and other Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Sarkozy, a conservative, had rushed back from a summit in southwestern France to meet Obama.



And instead of a rousing speech before thousands of fans at a historic site, the Democratic candidate stopped just long enough to chat with the French president.



One newspaper claimed that Obama would rather keep quiet about his very solid popularity with the French.



After Berlin, where Obama drew some 200,000 enthusiastic spectators for a speech last night, the conservative newspaper Le Figaro wrote that Obama was not looking to draw crowds in Paris 'because he knows his huge popularity in our country could ill-serve him with a part of the American centrist electorate'.

That was a reference to the negative image France had for years among some Americans because of Paris' vocal opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Long and short of it: Mr Sarkozy and Mr Obama return inside the palace after greeting the media

Although Sarkozy and Obama are technically on different sides of the political fence, the French leader seems to have a softspot for the U.S. senator.



'Obama? He's my buddy,' Le Figaro quoted the president as saying before Obama's arrival. 'I am the only Frenchman who knows him.'



Sarkozy, elected in 2007, first met Obama in 2006 in Washington while a candidate for the French presidency.

He offered considerably less to Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, during a March visit to Paris. After 45 minutes of talks, McCain was left on his own, fielding questions from reporters in the courtyard of the Elysee.



Obama clearly chalked up a success in Germany, where not only the crowd and the press but Chancellor Angela Merkel gave him good marks.



'From the point of view of the chancellor and the government, the speech (Thursday) is a positive signal for Europe and to Europe,' Merkel spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told reporters in Berlin.



Wilhelm said Obama's priorities matched those of Germany.



'A common resolution of international conflicts, a common fight against climate change, a clear initiative on the question of disarmament, dealing with the challenges of international terrorism - all these questions can no longer be resolved by one country alone, but only in close international cooperation,' Wilhelm said.



After his brief trip to Paris, Obama travels to London, the last stop of a tour of the Middle East and Europe designed to reassure voters in the United States about Obama's ability to lead the country and make his way with aplomb through world diplomacy.

Relaxed: Barack Obama talks with President Sarkozy before this afternoon's press conference

French supporters of Obama were excited about the visit.



'He is young, not from the establishment. It's a change of U.S. politics, of the U.S. image in the world,' said Samuel Solvit, the 22-year-old head of a Paris-based Obama committee.

The visit comes a little under 24 hours after his historic speech in Berlin.

In the end Barack Obama had no need to break into German to leave the 200,000 crowd roaring with delight.

The man the German media has dubbed the 'Black JFK' stuck to English - but his welcome in Berlin last night stood comparison with the rapturous reception given to John F. Kennedy's famous 1963 'Ich bin ein Berliner' address at the height of the Cold War.

Mr Obama opened his speech at the Victory Column in the capital's Tiergarten park with the words: 'I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before, although tonight I speak to you not as a candidate for president of the United States, but as a proud citizen of the United States and a proud citizen of the world.'

German triumph: Barack Obama stakes his claim to be the new JKF as 250,00 delirious Berliners greet him like a rock star

High hopes: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama waves after speaking at the Victory Column in Berlin

He told the crowd that he knew he did not look much like the Americans who had addressed Berlin before, emphasising his Kenyan roots to the delight of the thousands cheering his every word as ' Obamamania' took over.

Mr Obama, who arrives in London tomorrow at the end of a week-long overseas tour to boost his foreign policy credentials as the Democrat opponent of Republican John McCain, chose Berlin for the only formal speech of the trip.

He urged Europe to stand by the U.S. in bringing stability to Afghanistan and confronting other threats, from climate change to nuclear proliferation

And he said America had no better partner than Europe.

Mr Obama, who is hugely popular in Germany where polls show President George Bush is loathed, spoke in front of the 230ft column built to celebrate 19th-century Prussian military victories over Denmark, France and Austria

Historic: John F. Kennedy giving his famous speech at the Schoeneberg Town Hall during his visit to Berlin in 1963

Addressing many world issues, Obama said: 'a new generation, our generation, must make our mark on history'.

He spoke of tearing down walls between countries, between races and between religions - that the 'walls' between Christians, Muslims and Jews cannot stand.

'Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.'

He also spoke on the Iraq war, saying: 'This is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.'

Young and old: A boy looks at a photo of Obama during his speech

Crowd control: Obama leaves the stage after his speech last night

He dwelt at length on the historic ties between the U.S. and Germany - touching on the Berlin Airlift 60 years ago and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

He said the fall of the Wall had brought hope but also dangers. 'No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone,' he said.

America and Europe had grown apart, he said, but it was vital they stood together on such issues, particularly Afghanistan.

'No one welcomes war. I recognise the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan,' Mr Obama said.

'But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone.'

He acknowledged the differences between Europe and the U.S.

'No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less.

Hands up for Obama: The Democrat presidential candidate greets members of the audience





'Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

'That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.'

Mr Obama this morning said he hopes his visit to Europe and the Middle East will show U.S. voters that he is a safe pair of hands, the Democrat said in an interview on Friday.



'What this trip has done is allowed me to talk about some of the critical issues we face,' Obama said in an interview broadcast on CNBC television on Friday.



'It has also allowed me to send a message to the American people that the judgments I have made and the judgments I will make are ones that are going to result in them being safer,' he added.

Big in Berlin: Obama was greted like a rock star by his German audience

Mr Obama is trying to allay concerns among U.S. voters and address accusations from his Republican challenger John McCain that Obama, 46, a first-term senator from Illinois, lacks the experience in foreign affairs necessary to run the country.



Vietnam war veteran McCain is making national security a central focus of his campaign.



'I have firmly believed since the beginning of this campaign and the last several years that we can't solve the problems we face in the United States alone," Obama told CNBC.

'We're going to be more effective if we've got an international coalition,' he said.

Echoing the message he gave in his speech on Thursday, Obama named Afghanistan, Iran, climate change and energy policy as areas in which the United States and Europe should work closely together.

Obama, who got a rock-star's reception in the German capital, goes on to Paris later on Friday. In the last week, he has visited Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel.