In an interview on Monday with the Israeli daily, Rabbi Sebbag said he told young Jews in France to emigrate to Israel or to “a more secure country.”

“It is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France,” he told the paper following Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) securing more than 33% of the vote in last Sunday’s first round of the general election. RN had earlier trounced President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble coalition in European parliamentary elections in May.

In past interviews, the Jerusalem Post wrote, Rabbi Sebbag has struck a cautiously optimistic tone about French Jewry despite his concerns over social changes and rising antisemitism, saying that France was facing an “identity crisis.” The rabbi went on to say Jews who migrated to France after World War II integrated much better than other immigrants.

“After generations, the French Jews are very French and feel very French,” he said, adding that the far right had made strong gains in areas where large numbers of immigrants had failed to assimilate.

Jewish leaders in France have urged their community to support Macron’s centrist movement, but antisemitism has also risen under his leadership, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“Many Ashkenazi Jewish families here since before World War II couldn’t think to vote for National Rally, yet the Left has been antisemitic in recent times,” Sebbag told the daily. “The Jews are in the middle because they don’t know who hates them more.”

Research by pollster Harris Interactive has suggested that the chances of the far right securing an overall majority in the second round of the election on Sunday, July 7, are dwindling. The research commissioned by weekly magazine Challenges and published on Wednesday was the first to be conducted since a cross-party front was formed to oppose RN’s advance in the run-off. More than 200 candidates pulled out of the ballot to clear the way for other parties’ candidates better placed to beat Marine Le Pen’s party.

The survey suggested that RN and its allies could secure between 190 and 220 seats in the 577-National Assembly, far below the 289 required to control the house. The center-right Republicans were seen taking 30–50 seats, ruling out a coalition right-wing government between them and RN.

The Harris poll put the left-wing New Popular Front coalition on 159–183 seats and Macron’s Ensemble on 110–135.