Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Thursday that a group of convicted Jewish terrorists were ''excellent boys who erred'' and discussed steps to pardon them, Israel Radio said.

Shamir, who had ordered the arrests of the Jewish underground group last year when he was prime minister, made Israel`s first official appeal for pardoning the group since their trial ended Wednesday.

Fifteen were convicted Wednesday of crimes against Arabs in the West Bank, including murder. Ten others had been convicted earlier, and two are awaiting trial.

''They are excellent boys who erred in their actions, and they should be given an opportunity to abandon this dangerous path,'' Shamir said in remarks reported by Israel Radio.

Shamir said he was pushing for pardons because clemency would prevent a recurrence of Jewish terrorism.

Israel`s largest circulation newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, said the pardons would be justified because 1,150 Arab prisoners were freed in May in exchange for 3 Israeli soldiers held in Syria since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

''The crime of every single Arab murderer who was released is greater than that of the entire Jewish underground,'' the newspaper said.

Some of the men convicted Wednesday asked if they could form a basketball team to play in Israel`s Class C League. They were granted police permission almost immediately and will be permitted to leave jail once a week to play basketball games.

Yossi Sarid, a liberal in Israel`s parliament, the Knesset, asked police to rescind permission for the basketball team because it was ''a slap in the face to the legal system.

''Why not also form other teams--like a team of convicted drug dealers, or rapists or bombers?'' Sarid asked.