As Israel braces itself for a rush of French Jews claiming automatic citizenship rights, one of the most famous dual Israeli-French figures has said they should be stopped.

Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, an ex-chairman of the Jewish Agency, this week told the JC that Israel should abolish the Law of Return legislation that ensures automatic citizenship for all Jews and only guarantee citizenship for those in serious danger. Would this include French Jews? "Definitely not," Mr Burg said. "It is not a second Holocaust, it is not a pogrom. Paris is no more dangerous than Jerusalem."

Mr Burg said he resented the growing number of French Jews who are buying properties in Israel in case they decide to emigrate.

The Law of Return was no longer critical - for Jews or Israel, he said.

"The majority of Jews are living in the democratic hemisphere and therefore I think using the law as a fast-track for citizenship for Jews only is wrong. It is obsolete."

As far as Mr Burg is concerned, Zionism is the "scaffolding" used to build Israel. Now that a state exists, it has "expired" and its continuation leads to discrimination against Arabs.

The idea of a Jewish state is now an "oxymoron", he said.

An emergency plan to deal with a potential wave of 120,000 French Jews moving to Israel was presented by the Jewish People Policy Institute.

The think-tank said Israel did not have as effective a plan to attract educated and business-minded members of the French community as countries including the United States, Canada, and others in Europe.