By The Associated Press

The strong showing by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the presidential qualifying round came as an unwelcome shock to many French Jews in a country where authorities say anti-Semitic attacks are at their highest level since World War II.

Le Pen, a right-wing extremist long shunned by the political mainstream, stunned all of France by qualifying for the May 5 runoff vote when he finished second in the presidential primary on Sunday, right behind President Jacques Chirac. The vast majority of Jews shunned Le Pen at the polls Sunday, said Emmanuel Weintraub, spokesman for the Representative Council of French Jewish Groups in Paris.

``We have always been dead against Le Pen in the Jewish community, and we are not going to change,'' he said.

Le Pen, who has been accused of bigotry and anti-Semitism throughout his long political career, became notorious among Jews 15 years ago when he called Nazi gas chambers ``a detail in World War II history.''

The Union of Jewish Student of France announced it was organizing an anti-Le Pen rally in Paris next Sunday to express opposition to the themes he is associated with, primarily ``intolerance, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.''

Le Pen's triumph followed a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe and particularly France, where violence against Jews has increased during 19 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting and flared further amid Israel's recent West Bank offensive.

Leaders of the World Jewish Congress opened an emergency meeting Monday in Brussels, Belgium to assess the troubling trend of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe.

The congress hopes to wrap up the special session Tuesday with a call to European political leaders for improved protection and stronger support for Jewish communities, officials said.

Le Pen is not expected to beat Chirac in the May 5 runoff, but his strong showing -- 16.8 percent of the votes cast -- stoked the ongoing debate among French Jews over whether they are safe.

``A Chirac victory against Le Pen, influenced by the xenophobic right, could leave the Jewish community trapped between Muslim extremists and a revitalized, anti-Semitic extreme right,'' said Shimon Samuels of the Simon Weisenthal Center in Paris.

``Under such conditions, more and more French Jews will see their future elsewhere,'' Samuels said.

About 1,200 Jews leave France for Israel every year, and the Jewish state recently has stepped up efforts to persuade them to come. But Weintraub said most Jews here are committed French citizens and would stay put.

Among the few Jews who voted for Le Pen, Weintraub said he believes ``a very small minority'' did so as an expression of anger over the upsurge in attacks on Jewish sites in the past year and a half. Jewish leaders say disaffected youths from the France's large immigrant Muslim population are largely to blame, and those few Jewish votes that Le Pen got could be a way of lashing back, Weintraub said.

Though some Jews voted for Le Pen, many observers say the victory was the result of Le Pen effectively capitalizing on his law-and-order platform at a time when more and more French feel prey to violence. The violent crime rate in France has gone up 10 percent in 2001 alone.

``There are Jews who voted for Le Pen, and they did it on the same grounds as any other Frenchman who is afraid of being robbed, of being mugged,'' Weintraub said.

``I've been held up twice and burgled five times since 1991,'' said grocery shop-owner Richard Loghmari, who voted for Le Pen in Sunday's first round of presidential elections. ``Enough is enough.''

In La Trinite, Le Pen took about 31 percent of votes, compared to just 14 per cent for second-placed Chirac and 11 percent for Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

``It does some good,'' retired slaughterhouse inspector Gerard Lazaro said of Le Pen's unexpected performance. ``I voted for Le Pen because I'm fed up. There's no more security in France.''

Lazaro, 67, said he was recently attacked by three youths who broke two of his ribs and left him with a black eye. He wasn't carrying any money, they just wanted one of his cigarettes, he said. Like Le Pen, Lazaro blames crime on immigrants.

``Immigration and crime are linked,'' he said. ``They're in a country that's not theirs and they don't want to integrate.''

Le Pen is a virulent opponent of immigration, particularly from the Muslim countries in North Africa, and he blames immigrants for the soaring crime rate.

``This push, this constant foreign immigration will -- if a barrier is not erected -- eventually submerge our country, making it disappear,'' Le Pen said Monday.

La Trinite Mayor Jean-Louis Scoffie said Le Pen's high score didn't reflect a shift in political affiliation among his fellow citizens.

``Out of the 1,500 people who voted for the National Front, I'm sure that no more than 10 of them are members of the National Front,'' said Scoffie. ``They didn't vote by conviction, they voted because they're fed up. The feeling of insecurity is very strong. Urban violence is terrible.''

According to CSA polling firm, Le Pen was the first choice of unemployed, blue-collar and young voters in Sunday's primary race. Chirac, a conservative, came in first with 19.88 percent of the vote; Le Pen finished second with 16.86 percent, and Jospin was third, with 16.18 percent.

Le Pen's second-place finish was a crushing blow to the political left and to Jospin, prime minister for the last five years, who announced his resignation from politics. Jospin, much more so than Chirac, had been widely criticized for failing to take tough action in the face of soaring crime.

Veronique Verstarete, a La Trinite shopkeeper, said Le Pen's surprise qualification for the runoff vote might bring change.

``It could give the politicians a good lesson,'' said Verstarete, who wouldn't reveal who she voted for. ``They haven't listened to people.''

In comments to reporters, Le Pen described himself as the ``candidate of the French people'' and said they had voted for him to overturn the political system.

As thousands of protesters took to the streets across France to denounce his success, Le Pen appealed for calm. ``Change must be carried out peacefully,'' he said.