Announcement from international editor Doug Jehl, deputy international editor Jennifer Amur, Middle East editor Jesse Mesner-Hage and weekend international editor Erin Cunningham:
We are thrilled to announce that Gerry Shih will become Jerusalem bureau chief, a high-profile and challenging role whose responsibilities for covering Israel, Gaza and the West Bank put it at the center of a widening conflict in the Middle East.
This is a job that requires courage, care, judiciousness and journalistic ambition – qualities that Gerry has demonstrated in two previous demanding assignments, first as a correspondent in China from 2018 to 2020 and then as India bureau chief for more than three years, where his investigation into the undermining of democracy by the Modi government and his Hindu nationalist allies was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
In moving to Jerusalem, Gerry will join the outstanding Shira Rubin, our Tel-Aviv based correspondent, who has played a central role in The Post’s coverage of the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath. Shira has delivered vivid, wrenching portraits of Israeli hostages and other victims of Hamas’ attacks, along with penetrating insights into Israeli society. With her deep experience across the region and her skills in Arabic and Hebrew, Shira will broaden her focus to include wider aspects of the conflict.
During an initial transition period, Gerry will also work closely with Miriam Berger, who will remain on assignment in Israel until at least June 1, for a total stint of more than 18 months. A D.C-based breaking news reporter, Miriam is also a veteran Middle East hand, and her relentless reporting and language skills have made her a central member of our Middle East team since Oct. 7, with a particular focus on Gaza and the West Bank. For her current assignment, Miriam has lived in Jerusalem and Jaffa in Israel.
Others who will continue to play a major role in Jerusalem coverage include Claire Parker, our Cairo bureau chief, who has spent roughly half her time in Israel and the West Bank since Oct. 7, delivering penetrating work. She will spend much of the next six months reporting from Israel and the occupied territories.
As a new bureau chief, Gerry will rely on the kinds of quick-study skills that helped him get off to a fast start in India, after spending most of his early career in China and Silicon Valley. He has worked with colleagues in London, Washington, Canada and Silicon Valley to break major stories in recent months about India’s role in assassination attempts abroad. First in China and then in India, he has demonstrated himself to be one of The Post’s most formidable reporters, most notably in his on-the-ground reporting for the “Rising India, Toxic Tech” project, the cross-departmental effort that the Pulitzer board recognized as a finalist in the 2023 prize for international reporting.
Gerry is a graduate of Stanford University. He has covered northern California for The New York Times; Silicon Valley and China for Reuters; and reported from the Associated Press from Beijing. He left China in 2020 when his journalist visa was revoked. Among other awards, he was the winner of the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize in 2020 for his distinguished reporting on China.
Gerry will start his new assignment in Jerusalem in January.
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