Republican presidential candidates addressed a large group of prominent Republican Jews on Thursday in Washington, D.C., and each of the 2016 hopefuls had something to prove.
For Dr. Ben Carson, the forum hosted by billionaire Sheldon Adelson was an opportunity to demonstrate his strength on foreign policy.
Carson delivered written remarks, during which he repeatedly mispronounced Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic organization that has been on the U.S. State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997.
Observers poked fun at Carson’s pronunciation, which sounded closer to “hummus,” a relatively uncontroversial Middle Eastern dish consisting largely of ground chickpeas, than “Hamas,” an organization at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In mid-October, the Carson campaign signaled the former neurosurgeon’s intention to skip the event altogether.
In the aftermath of the tragic attacks in Paris, foreign policy has received renewed attention in the 2016 race, and the Carson campaign has readjusted accordingly, including a recent surprise trip to Jordan.