Violent anti-semitism in the Ukraine...

This is not hooliganism.

A Ukrainian rabbi and his 14-year-old son were beaten in Kiev in the latest anti-Semitic attack in this ex-Soviet republic, a Jewish leader said Thursday.

Eight skinheads attacked the two during a beer festival on Sunday. Neither was seriously injured.

Police arrested two people on charges of hooliganism, drawing sharp criticism from members of Ukraine's 100,000-member Jewish community.

"They again demonstrated an evident stupidity, indulging (anti-Semitism) instead of combating it," said Vadim Rabinovych, head of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress.

Rabinovych said he saw the suspects in jail and one of them allegedly admitted it was an anti-Semitic attack. "If it's hooliganism, my ears lie to me," he said. "I saw their eyes, their knives and chains ... It's an outrageous demonstration of fascism."

Last month, a Jewish student was severely beaten in the Ukrainian capital. The student was flown to an Israeli clinic in a coma to undergo brain surgery.