What Did Ben Carson Pray for in Jerusalem?

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

Friday, December 19, 2014

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- As the presidential race for 2016 gets closer, likely candidates start visiting key locations. In addition to Iowa and other states, there is also an important international stop. 

This week, Dr. Ben Carson took the opportunity to visit America's closest ally in the Middle East. This was the retired neurosurgeon's first visit to the Holy Land.

"It's really a fact-finding mission. And you hear so many things and read so many things but until you can actually experience it yourself and see for yourself, you really don't have the proper perspective," Carson said.

To get that first-hand perspective, Carson paid a house call to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel's premiere hospital. He also met one of the victims of the recent Har Nof terror attack, in which four rabbis and a policeman were murdered.

"I looked at your scan and you're very fortunate to be alive," Carson told the patient.

During his fact-finding mission, Carson said Israelis told him they're concerned about relations between Israel and the United States.

"I don't think I've met any Israeli since I've been on this trip who didn't think that the relationship was in jeopardy," Carson said.

Carson used a schoolyard analogy to describe the current state of affairs between the two countries.

"It's sort of like your brother is going to school in a real tough neighborhood and you want to make sure he gets there safely and gets home safely, so you walk with him. And then suddenly you say; 'You're on your own. Call me if you have problems,'" Carson told CBN News in an interview. "That seems to be how our relationship has gone."

One criticism of a potential Carson candidacy could be his lack of foreign policy experience. But he says leadership requires wisdom.

"The book of Proverbs in the eleventh chapter, fourteenth verse, [says] 'In the multitude of counselors there is safety,'" he said.

Carson hasn't made any official announcements. He came to Israel with a non-political group called The Face of Israel (LINK). He added that the trip gave him food for thought.

"It will impact significantly as we consider what our future course of action will be," Carson said.

Like many dignitaries Carson visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.

He placed a note in the wall and prayed.

"A continuation of God's blessing and wisdom," Carson said of what he prayed. "You know Solomon was here, the wisest man who ever lived. And (I'm) asking for Solomonic wisdom to know what to do with the opportunities I've been granted."