HaRav Dov Begon is Head of Machon Meir.
Rashi opens his commentary on the Torah by citing the Midrash:
“The Torah should have begun only with ‘This month shall be for you,’ which is the first commandment that Israel was given. Why, then, did it begin with ‘In the beginning’? Because, ‘He declared the power of His deeds to His people, to give them the inheritance of nations’ (Psalms 111:6). For if the nations of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, for you conquered the land of Canaan,’ they can say to them: ‘The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. He created it and gave it to whomever He deemed proper. By His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us’" (Genesis 1:1, Rashi).
As is well known, Rashi lived about a thousand years ago, when the People of Israel were in exile and the Land was then ruled by foreign peoples. Seemingly, the claim of the nations, “You are robbers," was not relevant, and nevertheless Rashi chose this Midrash. This is because the claims of the nations against Israel have existed for thousands of years, whether we rule over the Land or whether we were in exile.
The answer to the claim of the nations is not what we should say to them, but what we should say to ourselves, as it is written, “He declared the power of His deeds to His people," and not “to the nations." When we know the power of the deeds of the Holy One, blessed be He - that by His will He chose us and chose our Land, and that by virtue of a Divine command we conquered our Land - we are able to stand against the constant claim of the nations: “You are robbers!"-you are occupiers!
At present, all the manifestations of antisemitism throughout the world are intended to accuse Israel, its leaders, and its army with that same ancient claim: “You are robbers"; you are occupiers; you are war criminals, God forbid. These accusations are intended to undermine the existence of the State of Israel and to harm its strength and its ability to defend itself against the true war criminals, those who murder children, women, the elderly, and peaceful civilians by the thousands - the terrorist and criminal organizations that act to destroy the State of Israel, God forbid.
Our ability to stand against the attacks of terror, falsehood, and wickedness of our Muslim and Arab enemies and those who do their bidding lies in the fundamental and basic understanding that “He declared the power of His deeds to His people": that we are the people of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who chose us from all the nations, gave us the Land of Israel, and commanded us to conquer it, settle it, and establish a state in it, in order to reveal before the eyes of all mankind the power of the deeds of Hashem, blessed be He, and to bring the light of Hashem to the entire world.
A war is being waged here between the children of light and the children of darkness who seek to extinguish the lamp of Israel, which shines ever brighter, a war in which we will achieve a great victory, because we are the eternal nation, as it is written: “The Eternity of Israel will not lie."
Awaiting the complete salvation.