Vause: Israeli disbelief about LAX shooting

Vause

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, the man police said opened fire at Israel's El Al airlines ticket counter, killing a ticket agent and a diamond importer before being shot dead, was not listed on terrorist watch lists, authorities said Friday. CNN Correspondent John Vause filed this report as investigators tried to unravel the reasons behind the attack.

VAUSE: Hadayet hasn't been identified as being part of any terrorism group. It gets down to, I guess, what your definition of terrorism is. As far as the Israeli policy is that it's an attack by an Arab national on an Israeli target, therefore that in the broad sense is terrorism.

However, the FBI is taking a much more cautious approach because there could be bigger issues at play here. It could be a workplace dispute. It could be something bigger. It could be some kind of domestic argument.

We just don't know. All those details have yet to come out. But as far as the Israelis are concerned, as far as their definition of terrorism, this certainly looks like that. Nothing else to go on apart from their past experience and the fact that this man is Egyptian and it was El Al airlines.

There have been a number of terrorist attacks on El Al here, more than 20 or so. In the '60s, there were the hijackings. In the '70s, there were those direct terrorism attacks where the planes were targeted. And in the '80s, there were attacks similar to the ones that happened at LAX Thursday, when there was the shooting.

In 1985, in Vienna and Rome, simultaneous attacks on counter staff at airports there, where 19 people were killed. But now the El Al airlines boast incredibly tight security and they say the last terrorist attack on one of their airlines was, in fact, in 1986. And even then, that terrorist attack was foiled by a security guard who found a suitcase full of explosives. And that was destined to go onboard one of the planes, but it was found beforehand. The explosives, though, did detonate inside the terminal, injuring 13 people.

Now here in Israel, though, there is also a general disbelief that the gunman actually managed to get into the terminal, especially armed with two handguns and a knife. That's in the context here of the incredible security at Tel Aviv Airport. At Tel Aviv, when you pull up, there are security guards. As you drive into the airport, your car is searched. You've got to open the trunk. The security guards look under the car for explosives. And then once you get to the curb, there are heavily armed guards there. Once inside, heavily armed guards again.

Your luggage is X-rayed before you even get to the check in counter and then, of course, once you do get to the check-in counter, there are the security guards there, as well. There's also intense monitoring of the situation.