Chick-pea uprising...

Carson stumbles on Hamas, says something more like hummus

By Nolan D. McCaskill

Ben Carson on Thursday reminded potential donors of his questionable foreign policy acumen, mispronouncing the Gaza-based militant group Hamas as something more closely resembling the popular chickpea spread on multiple occasions.

Speaking at a Republican Jewish Coalition forum in Washington, D.C., the retired neurosurgeon’s pronunciation of the military group Hamas (pronounced Hah-mahs) sounded more like hummus (pronounced hum-muss).

Carson addressed the Fatah-Hamas conflict in his foreign policy speech, citing the territorial and ideological division among the Palestinian people as a primary problem.

“Fatah and Hamas operate in a constant state of conflict,” said Carson, reading his prepared remarks with his head down instead of addressing the audience — which he did throughout most of his 30-minute speech. “Fatah rules the West Bank. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip.”

Former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, an RJC board member, lamented Carson's performance, tweeting: "Someone should have told him how to pronounce Hamas. He sounds like he's not familiar with the group."


Before he began his remarks, Carson noted that although he is a “spontaneous speaker,” he would be using a script to ensure he hits all of his points. “It might be the first time anybody’s ever seen me doing that,” he said.

Nevertheless, he repeatedly flubbed the name of the group at the outset of his address. To his credit, though, Carson eventually pronounced Hamas correctly as he got deeper into his remarks.

But his latest slip of the tongue follows a series of foreign policy stumbles. The Republican presidential candidate’s own advisers questioned Carson's ability to retain foreign policy intelligence in a New York Times article. And in a Fox News interview last month, Carson failed to name allies he would call to create an international military coalition to combat the Islamic State. He also suggested that China was involved in the Syrian conflict — though his campaign later clarified that Carson was referring to Chinese military weapons and equipment, not boots on the ground.

Fourteen Republican White House hopefuls are scheduled to appear at the event, which is considered an important opportunity to try to impress GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, even though he isn't in attendance. Adelson is the coalition's primary donor, doling out more cash than any other benefactor during the 2012 federal elections.