PARIS, July 19: Paris told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday he was unwelcome in France in the midst of a diplomatic row sparked by his appeal to French Jews to leave the country immediately , Israeli television said.

French President Jacques Chirac told Mr Sharon in a message: "After some weeks of contacts concerning such a visit it turns out that it is impossible ... and you are not welcome following your comments," according to Channel 2 television.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman refused to comment on what he called "confidential messages". Mr Sharon on Sunday urged all French Jews to move immediately to Israel in order to escape what he called the "spread of the wildest anti-Semitism".

The French foreign ministry described the remarks as "unacceptable", and politicians, media and religious leaders also reacted with indignation, with Jean-Louis Debre of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) saying the prime minister had "missed a good opportunity to shut his mouth".

Mr Sharon told a meeting of American Jewish groups on Sunday that while he regularly called on Jewish communities around the world to immigrate to Israel, in France "it is a must... they have to move immediately" because of the hostility towards them from the country's five million Muslims.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner told a French radio station that Mr Sharon had been "misunderstood" and that all he meant was that the place of all Jews was in Israel.

But French Jewish leaders, who have persistently denounced the growing violence against their 600,000-strong community, rallied against the comments, with Richard Prasquier of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions accusing Sharon of "pouring oil on the fire in an unacceptable fashion".

"The Jewish community is going through real anxiety about the future of its children. It knows that the political class is doing all it can to fight against this anti-Semitism.

"Some Jews are indeed asking questions about leaving. That is true. But in order to leave one must be of the opinion that the situation is out of control. And that is not the case," he said.

According to figures from the Jewish Agency, the body responsible for "aliyah", or immigration to Israel, some 2,300 French Jews made the move in 2003, a slight drop on the previous year. However the figure was less than 1,000 three years ago, before the start of the intifada.

The French press accused Mr Sharon of deliberately distorting the truth about the condition of French Jews for political reasons. "Ariel Sharon's attack is doubly disgraceful. Not just because France is not anti-Semitic, but because he knows it is not anti-Semitic," said the conservative daily Le Figaro.

The newspaper said that by slurring France's name with none-too-subtle associations with the wartime Vichy era, the prime minister wanted to remove the country's legitimacy as a partner in the Middle East peace process.

"His assault is aimed at undermining the credibility of President Jacques Chirac, one of the European Union's most eloquent advocates for a Palestinian state," it said. -AFP