PARIS — Increasing numbers of French Jews are leaving for Israel, citing dim economic prospects and a sense of being caught between an increasingly influential far right and militant Islam. More than 5,000 are on track to leave this year, the most since after the Six-Day War in 1967.
Israel, seeing the influx as a success, is doubling down on its efforts to attract Europeans, planning to dedicate $29 million over two years to bring in new immigrants.
France has the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, about 500,000, according to rough estimates. The country bans any official documentation of a person’s race, religion, or ethnicity in a law with roots in French shame over its collaboration with the Nazis.
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Since World War II, France has redoubled efforts to make Jewish families feel welcome. But many say dramatic acts of anti-Semitism coupled with France’s stagnant economy — which includes a 25 percent youth unemployment rate, compared with 11 percent in Israel — make a hard choice easier.
Laurie Levy, 26, left in 2013. A native of the southern city of Toulouse, her departure came after attacks by a French-born Islamic radical on a Jewish school and soldiers left seven people dead, including three children and a rabbi. She has given up on a career in French law and left behind her parents and siblings.
In Tel Aviv, she no longer feels the need to hide the Star of David she wears around her neck. But there are other concerns: Her parents are unlikely to uproot themselves and she worries about their future back in France. They, in turn, worry about her, living alone in a different country.
‘‘Life is beautiful here. . . . You’re not afraid,’’ said Levy, who now works at an Israeli design firm.
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That she was able to switch fields and find a job is a demonstration of Israel’s economic allure. The country annually welcomes 1,000 French youths for a year abroad and 70 percent of them decide to stay in Israel, according to Ariel Kandel, who runs the Jewish Agency for Israel in Paris.
The agency, which works closely with the Israeli government, aims to strengthen ties between Jews in the diaspora and Israel and spends tens of millions of dollars each year to bring Jews to Israel permanently.The $29 million in new spending targets European Jews and another $8 million will help them resettle.
The Jewish Agency cites an influx of immigrants from France and Ukraine, which has been fighting with separatists and seen some anti-Semitic leaflets distributed amid increasing tensions with Russia.
France doesn’t pose such a dramatic danger. Its economy is stagnant and joblessness is high, but France has among the world’s strongest social safety nets and highest standards of living.
The number of people obtaining French citizenship is down about 45 percent from a high in 2010 and the general mood among French of all faiths is one of deepening pessimism.
French Jews say they have the added burden of watching the rise of an increasingly militant Islam and a revitalized far right.
The French government is aware of the increase in departures, Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.
‘‘Emigration is an individual choice and it’s not our place to comment,’’ he said.