Israel was created in the midst of war. Jewish national aspirations for political independence, reinforced after the Second World War, met with increasing opposition from the Arab states and from the Arab population. As early as December 1946, Ben Gurion warned the Political Committee of the Zionist Congress: “The major problem is defense. Until recently it was only a question of defending ourselves against the Palestinian Arabs who occasionally attacked Jewish settlements. But now we confront a totally new situation. Israel is surrounded by independent Arab states … which have … the capacity to acquire arms … While the … Palestinian Arabs do not endanger the Jewish community, we now face the prospect of the Arab states sending their armies to attack us … We are facing a threat to our very existence.”

This danger became more concrete late in 1947 when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the plan to partition Palestine. The prospect of total war created severe problems for the Jewish leadership in Palestine, prominent among which was the acquisition of arms. Military equipment was unavailable, the British government maintained a tight control over the possession of weapons in Palestine while extending financial and military support to two of the Arab states on the future Jewish state's borders, Egypt and Jordan. Furthermore, at the end of 1947, the U.N. imposed an embargo on the sale of arms to Palestine. Against this background, it is hardly surprising that in September 1947 Ben Gurion considered the acquisition of military material to be of “prime importance.” Such was the background to the Czech-Israeli connection.