Many people believe that the story is somewhat of a legendary battle of the underdog Israel against the Arabs, and they somehow miraculously won. Was there some kind motive on behalf of the Israeli leaders to make them seem like the underdogs, perhaps to preserve their passive geopolitical presence?
What makes you think they weren't? The country had barely had time to raise its flag, let alone create a trained and supported military force beyond the paramilitary force already in existence. The ability for the Israelis to scrounge weapons to use is a flagship example of making do with whatever they could find. Example, look up the history of the Israeli armored force, some of the tanks they found didn't have working guns, vs an actual armored force in the Arab militaries. The fact that Israel survived the onslaught is a combination of Israeli tenacity and determination combined with Arab incompetence.