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 .

police commissioner yohanan danino told Telling the press , `` the lynch in jerusalem was the most severe and contemptible act imaginable in a democratic law-abiding country . ''