Elliott Abrams: “Cutting all the funds but allowing a 100 percent national security waiver, I think, achieves almost nothing.”

If we are trying to strengthen Lebanon's independence we are failing. If we are trying to limit Hezbollah's power, we are failing.

He accused Israel of trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount and threatened a religious conflict that would spread across Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authorities.

I think by cutting off the direct payments now, you would be sending a very clear message to the Palestinian leadership that this is intolerable.

If we are trying to strengthen the Sunni or Druze or Christian influence inside Lebanon against Hezbollah, we are failing.