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Report on state-run TV about Australian-British academic shows photos of her visiting Jerusalem

Iran has launched a media misinformation campaign to justify its claim that the freed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a spy, accusing her of coordinating with a former Bahraini MP to steal secrets for Israel.

A state-run TV outlet this week ran a nearly 10-minute segment on the Australian-British academic that featured several images purporting to show Moore-Gilbert travelling, on her wedding day and with friends and family, in the fullest airing so far of Tehran’s justification for imprisoning her on espionage charges.

Related: Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: 'My freedom is your victory'

Parliament passes preliminary bill to dissolve itself in move seen as gambit by Benny Gantz to pass budget

Israel’s parliament has passed a preliminary bill to dissolve itself, a move that threatens to break apart an already fractured coalition government and trigger a fourth election in less than two years.

Wednesday’s vote, which is not final and requires further readings, was largely seen as a gambit by Benny Gantz, the former head of the opposition who reluctantly joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition this year to assert his authority.

The real issue is the Trump administration’s actions over the last four years, but the risks may be growing as it heads for the exit

As any dramatist could tell you, when can be as important as what. The assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last week was a reckless and provocative act, tagged as a potential breach of international law not only by the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, but also by the former CIA chief John Brennan. Though no one has claimed responsibility, US officials have indicated that the killing is the work of Israel; previous assassinations of nuclear scientists have been attributed to Mossad.

What is truly striking is the timing. Fakhrizadeh was a top target, but the last such killing was in 2012, and the Obama administration had warned Israel off other hits. It is hard to believe it is a coincidence that this took place as Donald Trump prepares to reluctantly leave office. As such, it appears to have less to do with events in Iran than with politics in the US and indeed Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu is looking once more to his electoral prospects. The real damage done is not to the Iranian nuclear programme, but to diplomacy. The suspicion is that the intent is to provoke a reaction that the president-elect, Joe Biden, might feel unable to ignore, making his plans for a return to the nuclear accord even tougher – or, worse still, which allows the Trump administration to hit back harder. Iran has vowed to respond. Though it understands the forces in play and is usually careful to calibrate its actions, the killing – coming months after the US killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Suleimani – has highlighted its vulnerability. This is a dangerous moment.

Antisemitism manifests itself, in part, by denying Jews their collective right to self-determination, writes Jeremy Havardi in defence of the IHRA’s definition

The 122 Palestinian and Arab intellectuals (Letters, 29 November) have taken it upon themselves to define antisemitism and the struggle for Jewish rights. This is a mistaken approach which also fails to understand the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Antisemitism manifests itself, in part, by denying to Jews their collective right to self-determination under international law. That is why the view of Israel as a “racist endeavour” is an example within the IHRA definition. A Jewish majority state is no more racist than a Muslim or Christian one.

The current plight of Palestinians, far from being an intrinsic feature of Zionism, is the outcome of a tragic conflict between two peoples. In recent decades, Israel has made at least four offers to partition the land and create a Palestinian state, with every offer rebuffed, often violently. Palestinian rejectionism is thus the main cause of their statelessness.

Official says no one was present at scene, and blames Israel and an exiled opposition group

A senior Iranian security official has accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to carry out a remote assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country’s supreme national security council, made the comments at the funeral for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Related: Iran scientist's assassination appears intended to undermine nuclear deal

Analysis: Despite calls to attack Israel, Iran may decide that avoiding conflict is wisest

The assassination of the top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a suspected Israeli operation raises questions over what, if anything, Iran may do to retaliate.

Related: Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh given martyr status

Tehran holds state funeral for Fakhrizadeh, who it says was killed remotely using ‘electronic devices’

Iran has bestowed martyr status on the nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh at a full state funeral in Tehran, vowing to redouble his work after an assassination blamed on its arch-foe Israel.

In footage carried by state TV, Fakhrizadeh’s casket was shown surrounded by flowers and pictures of him, alongside portraits of Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad in January.

A group of 122 Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and intellectuals express their concerns about the IHRA definition

We, the undersigned Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and intellectuals are hereby stating our views regarding the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and the way this definition has been applied, interpreted and deployed in several countries of Europe and North America.

In recent years, the fight against antisemitism has been increasingly instrumentalised by the Israeli government and its supporters in an effort to delegitimise the Palestinian cause and silence defenders of Palestinian rights. Diverting the necessary struggle against antisemitism to serve such an agenda threatens to debase this struggle and hence to discredit and weaken it.

Newspaper publishes comment urging retaliation with strike on Haifa that ‘causes heavy human casualties’

The body of Iran’s most senior nuclear scientist has been prepared for burial as anger at Israel and the US boiled over in the country following his assassination.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s coffin, draped in the Iranian flag and topped with flowers, was transported to a Muslim shrine for prayers and last tributes, the country’s state news reported. His remains will be taken from the Imam Reza shrine to Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom, south of Tehran, and then to Imam Khomeini’s shrine in the capital, according to the defence ministry.

Related: Iran's supreme leader calls for 'definitive punishment' of scientist's killers

New infections in and around Seoul; Spain reports 36 new outbreaks; New Zealand strengthens borders

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Authorities in South Korea have said the country is experiencing a second wave of the coronavirus in and around Seoul, and warned that stronger physical-distancing measures will be reimposed if the daily increase in infections does not come down.

Confirmation of the new wave came as the Israeli government said a lockdown could be reintroduced amid a sharp rise in cases, and a team of contact tracing experts prepared to deploy to the Australian state of Victoria to tackle a new outbreak in Melbourne.

As long as people have close contact with others, we believe that infections will continue

The Associated Press contributed to this report