Isis News: French 'Jews' Fighting with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq

A French government official has claimed that an unspecified number of people with Jewish origin are among the 1,000 French citizens who have joined the Islamic State (also known as Isis).

The surreal disclosure came after a young Jewish girl was reported to be among scores of French teenagers who left their homeland to wage jihad in Syria and Iraq.

The official, who was interviewed by Israel's Channel 2 news, said that a handful of people of Jewish extraction, some of whom converted to Islam, were among those who joined Isis.

He based his assumption on recent figures released by the French interior ministry, which stated that more than 1,000 nationals left France to support the organisation, with the number making the trip to the self-styled Islamic caliphate soaring in the last 18 months.

A Jewish member of the French parliament named Meyer Habib said the suspected jihadis "were the topic of conversation among France's Jewish community", according to Haaretz. He added that if a Jewish girl joined Isis "it really is the end of the world".

The summer's Israel-Palestinian conflict exacerbated communal tensions in France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish community and Muslim population.

A synagogue on the outskirts of Paris was firebombed and two others attacked by violent anti-Israeli protesters in the capital's city centre. In June, Jewish community leaders had warned that a record number of Jews were leaving the country due to what they described as an increasingly anti-Semitic environment.