---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - Israel
  - Soviet
  - Diplomat
summary: "U.S. ambassador to Israel present at the pivotal 1981 Reagan White House meeting where Begin and Sharon proposed a sweeping U.S.-Israeli strategic alliance."
born: 1930-10-01
died: 2014-03-10
location: "Houston, Texas, USA"
---
Samuel W. Lewis was the U.S. ambassador to [[Israel]], assigned in 1977. He was present at a meeting in the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] [[White House]] in September 1981 where [[Menachem Begin]] and [[Ariel Sharon]] presented a far-reaching agenda for U.S.–Israeli strategic cooperation. Lewis recounted that Begin suggested a formal alliance, and Reagan agreed, shocking others present. Sharon then outlined a plan that included joint use of airfields and Navy ports, and shared intelligence, including formal Israeli access to the [[KH-11]] satellite for its nuclear targeting of the [[Soviet Union]].[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 21.