Rebatet was sent back to France and, in 1946, received a death sentence, which was commuted to forced labor the next year. Released from prison in 1952, he returned to journalism in 1953, becoming the director of the literary section of "Dimanche Matin". In 1954, Gallimard published Rebatet's second novel, "Les Epis Mûrs" ("The Ripe Grains"). His final work was a history of music which he began writing in 1965, and which was published by Laffont in 1969. In 1969 too he said:"savor the historical paradox that led the Jews of Israel to defend all the patriotic, moral, military values that they most violently fought during a century in their adopted country" while in 1967 he said: "The cause of Israel over there is that of all Westerners. It would have surprised me if I had been prophesied in 1939 that I would one day wish for the victory of a Zionist army. But this is the solution that I find reasonable today".