Context :

Aims : To reexamine the implications of the recent HESS observations of the blazar 1ES0229+200 for constraining the extragalactic mid-infrared background radiation .

Methods : We examine the effect of \gamma -ray absorption by the extragalactic infrared radiation on predicted intrinsic spectra for this blazar and compare our results with the observational data .

Results : We find agreement with our previous results on the shape of the IR spectral energy distribution ( SED ) , contrary to the recent assertion of the HESS group .
Our analysis indicates that 1ES0229+200 has a very hard intrinsic spectrum with a spectral index between 1.1 \pm 0.3 and 1.5 \pm 0.3 in the energy range between \sim 0.5 TeV and \sim 15 TeV .

Conclusions : Under the assumptions that ( 1 ) the SED models of Stecker , Malkan & Scully ( 2006 ) are reasonable as derived from numerous detailed IR observations , and ( 2 ) spectral indexes in the range 1 < \Gamma < 1.5 have been shown to be obtainable from relativistic shock acceleration under the astrophysical conditions extant in blazar flares ( Stecker , Baring & Summerlin 2007 ) , the fits to the observations of 1ES0229+200 using our previous IR SEDs are consistent with both the IR and \gamma -ray observations .
Our analysis presents evidence indicating that the energy spectrum of relativistic particles in 1ES0229+200 is produced by relativistic shock acceleration , producing an intrinsic \gamma -ray spectrum with index 1 < \Gamma < 1.5 and with no evidence of a peak in the SED up to energies \sim 15 TeV .