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- The Zion Square assault, also described by Israeli police, the judge who passed sentence, Israeli and foreign media as a "lynch" or "attempted lynch(ing)", was an attack by Israeli youths against four Palestinian teenagers that took place on the night of 16–17 August 2012 at Zion Square in Jerusalem. The four were chased by 10–15 teenagers and a 17-year-old Palestinian boy Jamal Julani was beaten unconscious and subsequently found to be in a critical condition. Originally reported by police as a brawl between two groups, the incident achieved notoriety after an Israeli eyewitness posted an account on Facebook reporting that dozens of Israeli youths had tried to beat to death three Arab youths, and that, when one fell, they continued to kick his head. After the assailants fled, others in the vicinity stood about shouting angrily. When Israeli volunteers on the scene gave the boy assistance, their action was greeted by bystanders with expressions of resentment. Julani had a heart condition and had to be revived by a responding medic. He was released from hospital a week after the attack. In July 2013 he was still undergoing neurological and psychological care. An eyewitness reported that police marked the site as a murder scene. Reports said that during the episode a policeman observed the assault without intervening. However, a police investigation determined that this referred to an earlier altercation nearby. Prompt intervention by Magen David Adom, including C.P.R., managed to revive him. Authorities called his survival a miracle. Police commissioner Yohanan Danino told the press, "The lynch in Jerusalem was the most severe and contemptible act imaginable in a democratic law-abiding country." On 19 August, Israeli police arrested several Israeli teenagers, the youngest of whom was 13 years old. One of the suspects expressed no regret. The attack took place on the same day as a firebombing of a Palestinian taxi driving near the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin in which a Palestinian family of 5 and their driver suffered serious burns. The incidents were condemned in Israel and throughout the world and a national debate over anti-Arabism ensued. (en)
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