An Israeli court has convicted eight Jewish teenagers for carrying out neo-Nazi attacks. District Court judge Zvi Gurfinkel sentenced the teenagers, aged between 16 and 19, to jail terms between one and seven years for the perpetration of a "shocking and horrifying" spree of attacks that targeted foreign workers, ultra-Orthodox Jews and homeless men. The court said the group also planned to attack Arabs. The eight teenagers were immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union and court documents cited social adjustment difficulties as a factor behind their involvement in the gang, which posted video clips on the internet glorifying Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. One of the teenagers was the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
The judge said he had given the teenagers lengthy sentences in part to deter other Israelis from joining neo-Nazi groups. The youths videotaped some of their attacks and posted them on the Internet. The charges against them included painting swastikas in a synagogue and planning a birthday party for Hitler, court documents showed. About a million immigrants from Russia and other former Soviet states have moved to Israel since the fall of Communism in 1990. Some have risen to prominence in politics and industry while others struggle to integrate, including thousands who are not considered Jewish by the religious authorities.