Report: Romney visits Western Wall in Jerusalem

By Meghashyam Mali - 07/29/12 11:54 AM ET

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney made an unscheduled visit to the Western Wall Sunday in Jerusalem.

Romney was accompanied to the site, one of the holiest in the Jewish faith, by his wife Ann and Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, reports said.

The presumptive GOP nominee wore a yarmulke and placed a hand-written prayer into the wall, keeping with tradition. His wife Ann proceeded to a separate portion of the wall, which is divided by gender.

Romney was also joined by a number of donors and top aides and shook hands with many in the crowd as he returned to his motorcade.

Romney is in Israel, the second stop on a three-country international tour as he seeks to bolster his foreign policy credential. He met with top Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and is expected to deliver a tough speech warning Iran of the consequences of pursuing nuclear weapons.

Earlier Sunday, a top Romney foreign policy adviser Dan Senor said the GOP candidate would back an Israeli military strike on Iran to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

“If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision,” Senor said to reporters.

Romney gingerly took a step back from those comments in an interview with CBS News. He would not repeat his aide’s remarks and avoided talk of a strike, saying that he would “use my own words, and that is I respect the right of Israel to defend itself, and we stand with Israel.”