U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis said tonight that Premier Menachem Begin has assured him that Israel has not decided to invade Lebanon. Emerging from a three hour meeting with Begin at the Prime Ministers Office, the American envoy said; “We had a discussion of the recent tensions and I asked the Prime Minister his views and he assured me that the Israeli Cabinet had taken no decision to go into Lebanon in any way, shape of form.” Lewis added that he was “very reassured” by the statement. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.