French President Emmanuel Macron has said his country will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to address rising acts of hatred against Jews.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the French Jewish umbrella group Crif on Wednesday night, he said: “For the first time in many years, antisemitism is killing people again in France.”

He said French authorities “did not know how to react effectively” and labelled the inaction a “failure”.

French authorities recorded a 74 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents in 2018 compared to the previous year and French Jewish leaders have been calling for the major political movements in France to adopt the definition.

Mr Macron is believed to have told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the decision to adopt the IHRA definition in a conversation Wednesday.

The announcement comes after thousands of protestors took to cities all over France to demonstrate against the recent spate of antisemitic incidents, which included an attack on nearly 100 Jewish graves at a cemetery this week.

Lawmakers in France originally resisted the definition, which was adopted last year by the European Parliament and several European Union member states.

Crif leader Francis Kalifat previously said of the definition: “When I asked political leaders and party officials what they thought about the definition and if they would adopt it, they said it would be a good idea, but I haven’t heard anything since.

“Our hope is to see this definition integrated into French law. Today, the main vector for antisemitism is anti-Zionism and this definition states clearly that anti-Zionism isn’t just criticism against Israel.”

Speaking about Mr Macron’s move to adopt the definition, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister said the definition “determines that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism.”