The techie billionaire touched down in the Middle East Monday, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government officials as they toured the wreckage of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in one of the targeted villages that day.

Musk was taken to a specific home in this village -- known as a kibbutz there in Israel -- and it's said to be where a 4-year-old American-Israeli girl was taken hostage by Hamas.

As EM was being shown the aftermath -- burned homes and destroyed buildings/roads -- a baby's crib was displayed with bullet shell casings inside ... which his translator/guide says came from weapons used to fend off the attackers and to protect the Israeli citizens.

Elon took it all in and listened attentively -- even snapping some photos as they passed all the wreckage throughout this particular kibbutz. While it was most certainly a somber and serious moment ... some couldn't help but notice something peculiar about his appearance.

Of course, we're referring to the fact that Elon was wearing a bulletproof vest -- as was everyone else in the group ... but his looked rather small on him, almost humorously so.

It goes without saying ... this visit is no laughing matter, especially for Elon -- who's under fire for what was a recent embrace of an antisemitic tweet ... not to mention a report alleging pro-Nazi content was appearing alongside mainstream advertisements on X.

Elon has pushed back on that latter claim -- and even went to court over it -- but in general ... he's fending off accusations of antisemitism on his platform, and it appears he's trying to quell all that by showing face in Israel. As he wrote, "Actions speak louder than words."