"Each expansion occurred when they had been attacked and defeated their attackers."

Not so. Israel, Great Britain, and France attacked Egypt in 1956, and Israel invaded and occupied the Sinai. Detailed account cut and pasted below:

As part of Egyptian President Nasser's nationalist agenda, he took control of the Suez Canal zone away from the British and French companies which owned it. At the same time, as part of his ongoing struggle with Israel, Egyptian forces blocked the Straits of Tiran, the narrow waterway that is Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea. Israel and Egypt had clashed repeatedly since their 1948 war as Egypt allowed and encouraged groups of Palestinian fighters to attack Israel from Egyptian territory. In response, Israeli forces constantly made cross-border raids in retaliation. Britain and France, both of whom were in the process of losing their centuries-old empires, decided on a strategy straight our of their 19th Century Imperial histories. This plan led to a joint invasion and occupation of the Suez Canal zone by Britain and France. This was meant to reassert control of this vital waterway to the British and French companies stung by Nasser's bold nationalization. At France's suggestion, planning was coordinated with Israel, a fact which all three nations denied for years afterwards.

On October 29, 1956, Israeli troops invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and quickly overcame opposition as they raced for Suez. The next day, Britain and France, following their part of the script, offered to temporarily occupy the Canal Zone and suggested a 10 mile buffer on either side which would separate the Egyptian forces from the Israelis. Nasser of course refused, and on October 31, Egypt was attacked and invaded by the military forces of Britain and France. In response to these developments, the Soviet Union, which at the time was ruthlessly suppressing an anti-Communist uprising in Hungary, threatened to intervene on Egypt's behalf. President Eisenhower of the United States pressured Britain, France and Israel into agreeing to a cease-fire and eventual withdrawal from Egypt. The United States, caught by surprise by the dual invasions, was more concerned with the Soviet war in Hungary and the Cold War than with Britain and France's dealings involving Suez. The last thing President Eisenhower wanted was a wider war over Suez. The war itself lasted for only a week, and invading forces were withdrawn within the month. As a result, Egypt now firmly aligned herself with the Soviet Union, which armed Egypt and other Arab nations for the continuing struggle against Israel.

So, that was an Israeli attack, not an Egyptian attack. (there had been numerous provocations on both sides, but Israel, the UK, and France launched the war) Israel was persuaded to pull out of the occupied Sinai by the USA.

Then in 1967 Israel launched another war, the "Six-Day War", described briefly as: "In a rapid pre-emptive attack, Israel crushed the military forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and seized large amounts of land from each. Iraq also participated in the fighting on the Arab side."   

Yes, in '67 it was Israel which launched a devastating surprise attack on its Arab opponents (destroying their air power) and it was in that war that Israel took most of the Arab and Egyptian land that it has since occupied. Israel attacked and the Arabs did NOT defeat their attackers. Jordan lost the west bank, Egypt lost the Sinai, and Syria lost the Golan heights.

Israel also later invaded Lebanon and occupied much of that country for a time.

I make that 3 wars launched by Israel, not upon Israel, all resulting in the occupation of other people's land. (Israelis will claim that there were provocations, and there were...there were plenty of provocations going in BOTH directions on pretty well a fulltime basis. :-) But Israel launched the full scale wars that followed those provocations.)

In 1973 the Egyptians and Syrians launched a surprise attack of their own (having learned a thing or two since '67), and were somewhat more successful than usual...the longterm result was: Egypt was able to arrange a treaty with Israel and get back most of the territory they had lost in the Six-Day War.

For Israelis to perpetuate the absolute myth that they have only been attacked and never been the attacker is rather odd, given this history, but people who can't be bothered to study it may easily believe such a myth.

Read up on the whole sad story at:

"The History Guy - Arab-Israeli Wars"

It is not a site that takes sides on the matter, it's simply a chronological history of the events.