Americans for Peace Now (APN) is horrified and outraged by today's terrorist attack on worshippers at a Jerusalem synagogue, which left at least seven people dead and several others injured.

APN strongly condemns this attack. We stand with the people of Israel. Our hearts are with the families that have been broken by today's attack. We wish full and rapid recovery to those who were injured.

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has been rising in the past two years and rapidly ratcheting up under the new extremist Israeli government.

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to the region next week, he must prioritize working with both Israeli and Palestinian authorities to prevent further escalation and discourage inflammatory actions and rhetoric that would further intensify the cycle of reciprocal revenge.

Tragically, as the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict repeatedly demonstrates, violence begets violence. The only way to end the violence is to resolve the conflict through diplomacy aimed at achieving a just peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians.