France has been accused of failing to tackle "societal anti-Semitism" after a Jewish family was beaten, held hostage and robbed in their home near Paris because of their religion.

Three attackers burst into the house in the Paris suburb of Livry-Gargan late Thursday, cut off the electricity and confined three members of a Jewish family, beating them and threatening to kill them, until one of them managed to escape and alert the police, said anti-Semitism watchdog BNVCA.

It said the assailants told the three victims: "You are Jews, you have money. We take money from Jews to give to the poor."

French interior minister Gérard Collomb promised a major effort to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly act (which) appears directly linked to the victims' religion".

"Everything will be done to identify and arrest those who carried out this foul attack," he said in a statement.