This is Part 2 in our look at American missionary efforts in the south of Israel. See Part 1

The American denomination Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) was the first Protestant evangelizing society in modern Be’er-Sheva (also known as Beersheva or Beersheba). In 2022 this pioneering organization commemorates 111 years of missionary activity in the area where the 3 Hebrew Patriarchs–Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–sojourned about 4 millennia ago.

Bedouins Hostile to the Gospel

In a lengthy report dated December 1, 1928, published in the Alliance Weekly, the C&MA’s formal bulletin, Rev. Leigh F. Irish, the society’s missionary in Be’er-Sheva had deplorably written:

“People who have sat and listened to our message and accepted our tracts in the past, have closed both ears and hands this year and are refusing to hear of, or tolerate...