Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday slammed a series of violent assaults by Israelis against Palestinians last weekend that left six with burn wounds and one severely beaten.

Netanyahu condemned the "racism and violence" in remarks at a signing ceremony for a document encouraging the absorption and integration of Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society.

"In the State of Israel, we are not prepared to tolerate racism; neither are we prepared to tolerate the combination of racism and violence," the prime minister said.

Jerusalem police have, so far, arrested at least eight underage Israelis who were suspected of taking part in the brutal beating of a 17-year-old Arab and his friends on Friday.

In the early morning attack, dozens of Jewish teens allegedly set upon three young Arab passersby in Jerusalem's central Zion Square.

According to eyewitnesses, one of whom called the attack a " full-blown lynch," the attackers beat the Arabs while shouting racial slurs, and kept on beating one of them until he blacked out from his wounds.

Netanyahu said he had spoken with Hadassah Medical Organization officials and asked the situation of the victims.

He said such attacks were "... something that we cannot accept - not as Jews, not as Israelis. This is not our way; this goes against our way, and we condemn it in word and deed."

Netanyahu said the police would "quickly bring to justice those responsible for this reprehensible incident. We say as clearly as possible: The State of Israel is a democratic and enlightened state in which when we come across acts such as these, the entire state and all of its leaders will come out together against such phenomena, and we will continue to do so."

Netanyahu compared Israel's attitude to such violence to "the environment around us and this will continue to make us unique. I hope that one day our environment will change as well. But we will be persistent in our complete opposition to racism and violence."

Police used video cam footage from nearby shops to identify the attackers, leading to the arrest on Saturday of a 19-year-old boy.

One of the suspects, a 15-year-old male, admitted his involvement in the incident, but expressed no remorse for taking part in the attack, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday.

"Yes, I was there," he said at his court hearing. "(The Arab) insulted my mother, so I caught up with him and beat him. I hit him and I hope he'll get it again," adding defiantly, "I hope he dies."

The condition of the most severely beaten has improved, and his parents told Israel Radio their son was a "victim of terror" and that they hoped to get justice.

On Monday, police announced a lead in the case: one of the girls arrested is suspected of inciting some of the attackers, telling the gang she was attacked by an Arab man on Thursday.

Israel Police commander Ronen Avnieli said there were more than 10 suspects in the incident, and they "attacked the first Arabs they saw."

He added that police are still investigating the incident and all possible leads, and they expect further arrests in the upcoming days.

Four more suspects, three boys, 13, 15, and 17, and a 15-year- old girl were arrested on Sunday, and another two suspects were arrested on Monday.