A column last week in an Israeli newspaper by a French Jewish leader has caused a furore in Paris over what is being seen as a tacit Jewish endorsement of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Richard Prasquier, head of Crif, French Jewry's umbrella body, wrote in Ha'aretz about the challenges facing the Jews of France under a new president.

Israel's former ambassador to France has expressed his dismay at support given by French Jews to Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National (FN).

Ms Le Pen won almost one in 5 votes in Sunday's first round presidential election.

Last month's attacks in which a jihadist shot four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse have changed the focus and, quite possibly, the outcome of the French presidential election.

Mohamed Merah, who also shot three soldiers in a separate attack and was killed following a 32-hour siege, had only one alleged collaborator - his brother.

It has now been around 17 hours since police surrounded a building in Toulouse in order to take a man, suspected of killing up to seven people, into custody.

Yet despite earlier reports, Mohammed Merah has not been arrested and remains holed up inside. Police are believed to be preparing to storm the building.

French investigators hunting a man who shot at pupils arriving at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday morning, killing four people, believe he filmed the attack.

The man, who has also been linked to the murders of three soldiers, was said to have had a video camera attached to him as he escaped the scene on a motorcycle.

The head of the umbrella body for European Jews has been awarded one of France's most prestigious honours.

Dr Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, was given the Chevalier Dans L'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur – the highest level of the order – at a ceremony on Tuesday.

The French president has blamed last month's outburst against Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on France being "left out" of the deal to free a captured IDF soldier.

Gilad Shalit, who holds dual Israeli and French citizenship, was released form the clutches of Hamas in October after more than five years of captivity.

The French president has attempted to smooth the waters after his comments criticising Israel's Prime Minister were overheard by reporters.

Earlier this month Nicolas Sarkozy and President Barack Obama were left red-faced when it emerged that the former had complained that Benjamin Netanyahu was a liar.