Local media and paparazzi were caught off guard when actor and martial artists Chuck Norris appeared in Israel over the weekend.
Norris, 76, was spotted at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, touring the tunnels beneath the Wall, and dining with Dore Gold, the former director-general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, in Herzliya. Gold even posted a photo of their meeting on Twitter.
A break from Middle East tensions. Dinner in #Herzliya with @ChuckNorris. pic.twitter.com/C62z0SRuBf
— Dr. Dore Gold (@DrDoreGold) February 4, 2017
No local media outlet could explain why Norris was in Israel other than simply to visit the sites.
Norris, who has filmed in Israel before, is a big supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2015, he even endorsed Netanyahu in a YouTube clip, telling Israelis, “You have an incredible country and we want to keep it that way.”