Since I had nowhere to return to, and no one to return to, I decided to stay in Czechoslovakia.

I enrolled at the Technion to study, and chose the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

My connection to the Land of Israel tightened only after the United Nations General Assembly resolved (on November 29, 1947) to partition the Land of Israel into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, and the War of Independence of the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel broke out. Emissaries of the “Hagana” came from the Land of Israel to Czechoslovakia to recruit volunteers from among the Jewish students, for the army and for a flight course that was to be held in the Czechoslovak Air Force, in order to assist the “Hagana’s” Air Service (from which the Israel Defense Forces Air Force grew, after the state was established on May 15, 1948). I was among a group of young Czechoslovaks who answered the call — in order to help the state-in-the-making repel its enemies, not in order to settle there.
The readiness of the Czechoslovak government to assist the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel in its war for independence stemmed from the atmosphere that prevailed at the time in politically engaged circles in Czechoslovakia. The democratic Prague government was sympathetic to the Zionist cause, which had received reinforcement through the United Nations partition resolution, and agreed (without doubt with the consent — and perhaps even the encouragement — of the Soviet Union) to sign with representatives of the “Hagana” a range of assistance agreements, beginning with procurement (principally aircraft and rifles), continuing with the provision of bases for those engaged in procurement, and concluding with the recruitment of volunteers for the various branches and the training of professionals for the service of the army of the state-in-the-making.