Hundreds of Jewish graves have been subjected to antisemitic vandalism at a cemetery in eastern France, near the border with Germany.

Just as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said the situation was now so bad that European Jews should immigrate to Israel, the 400 graves in Sarre-Union in Alsace were desecrated with swastikas and Nazi slogans.

The headstones were kicked over and desecrated with red paint.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that everything possible will be done to catch those responsible for such an "ignoble and anti-Semitic act, an insult to memory." He also urged the whole of France to be vigilant against such "messages of hate".

The number of anti-Semitic attacks has recently increased in France. A kosher supermarket in Paris was one of the sites attacked by Islamist gunmen in the shootings last month that left 17 people dead.

Bernard Cazeneuve, French interior minister, was visiting the site of the Copenhagen shootings when he said the country would "not tolerate this latest attack which harms the values all French people share."

He added: "This was an odious act against religious freedom and tolerance. France will not tolerate this latest attack which harms the values all French people share."