The number of French Jews crossing the Channel to find safe haven in the UK has surged as figures published this week revealed a 58 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents in France in 2012.

Two people have been arrested in connection with killing of three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse earlier this year.

A Gypsy and his former partner have been questioned by police on suspicion of acting as accomplices to self-proclaimed “Islamic warrior” Mohammed Merah.

The Israeli prime minister arrived in Paris this morning for a two-day diplomatic trip to France.

Benajmin Netanyahu will meet the French President Francois Hollande, Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayrault and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

A gunman claiming to be an al-Qaeda militant has taken four people hostage in a bank in the southwestern French city of Toulouse.

The incident, which follows the shootings of three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi in March by an al-Qaeda affiliate named Mohamed Merah, began at 9am with an attempt to hold up a CIC bank branch in central Toulouse.

The family of the man who murdered four people outside a Jewish school in Toulouse in March has begun legal action, alleging that the gunman was murdered.

Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people during his shooting spree in France, died after a 32-hour stand-off with police in an apartment in Toulouse. Two officers were wounded during the exchange of fire.

The president of the French Jewish student organisation has called on the University of Toulouse to combat antisemitism after a talk by Israeli students last week was disrupted by protesters shouting abuse, making threats and singing antisemitic chants.