The suspects all have at least one Jewish grandparent

The group - all from the former Soviet Union - were charged with a range of offences, including aggravated assault and spreading racist material.

They are suspected of attacking religious Jews and other immigrants and daubing Nazi swastikas in synagogues.

The group's arrest sparked calls for changes to Israel's immigration laws.

The youths, aged 16 to 19, were granted Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return because at least one of each of their grandparents is Jewish.

Shimon Weiss, the lawyer for the alleged ringleader, named in Israeli media as Eli Boanitov, said his client denied the charges against him.

A report quoting Mr Boanitov's sister suggested her brother had once worked as an electrician in the Israeli prime minister's office.

The grandmother of one of the suspects is herself a Holocaust survivor from Ukraine, Israeli media said.

She said she would "rather have perished in the Holocaust than experience what my grandson is putting me through", Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported.