Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Sunday that two recent attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem and Gush Etzion were "hate crimes" and "terrorist acts," echoing a new view stated by the U.S. State Department.

Several Palestinian Authority Arabs were wounded, one seriously, on Thursday by a firebomb attack on their car west of the Gush Etzion junction, south of Jerusalem. One of those wounded said a “Jewish settler” carried out the attack on the highway, where almost all firebomb and rock attacks are carried out by Arabs against Jewish motorists.

In a separate incident, a gang of Jewish teenagers brutally beat up three Arabs in downtown Jerusalem, leaving one young man in critical condition. It is not known if the gang’s actions were nationalist or were a result of an attack by hooligan “bullies” on defenseless victims, regardless of their background.

Ya’alon called the attacks “outrageous” and against Jewish morals.

The U.S. State Department recently wrote in its annual report on terror that Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria who carry out “price tag” revenge attacks on Arabs are guilty of “terrorist incidents.”