Last week’s horrible attacks in Paris were a stark reminder that the scourge of Jihad continues to haunt the globe. We were all shocked by the murder in cold blood of innocent French civilians and police officers, but we certainly weren’t surprised.

Paris now joins a long list of Western locations where Jihad has struck in recent months and years: Queens, Boston, Oklahoma City, Fort Hood, Little Rock, Ottawa, Sydney, London, Glasgow and more.

The Paris attacks were also proof that, despite what President Obama told the world, Al Qaeda is neither “decimated” nor “on the run.”

One of the Jihadis, Said Kouachi, who carried out the Paris attacks, identified himself as being part of Al Qaeda in Yemen. He also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. While the media sees a contradiction in this, there is none. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State may have their differences, but when it comes to waging Jihad against Kaffirs, they are in complete agreement.

We’ve also learned that the other Kouachi brother, Cherif, had actually been convicted on terrorism charges a few years ago and served only 18 months in prison.

Keep that factoid in mind each time you hear that the Obama administration has released another Jihadi from Gitmo.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, hundreds of thousands of French citizens, joined by world leaders, marched in the streets in memory of the victims. Numerous countries were represented: the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel—some 40 nations.

One nation was conspicuous in its absence: the United States of America.

At a time when the world so desperately needs the leader of the Free World, the world’s greatest superpower, to step up and support liberty and free expression, America under Obama didn’t even vote “present.”

This is a shameful, unprecedented point in American history. Never before has America’s moral compass been so clearly guided away from True North.

Our president is actually complicit in what happened in Paris. Instead of standing up for free speech and free expression, we have heard seen him say that the “future must not belong to those who would slander the prophet of Islam.” This type of pandering statement amounts to appeasement and encourages the acts of Jihad against those who exercise free speech and free expression.

While the rest of the civilized world—including the president of Egypt, the largest Arab nation on earth—is clearly seeing once and for all the threat from Islamic Jihad, from top to bottom, the Obama administration remains in dishonest denial, refusing to name the enemy.

As if to underscore today’s faulty American leadership, the Obama administration has announced that the President will host a “Summit on Countering Violent Extremism” on February 18^th.

The threat isn’t “violent extremism.” The term “violent extremism” has no meaning. The threat is JIHAD. Jihad is a specific kind of warfare founded in Islamic doctrine. Violent extremism is a euphemism concocted by bureaucrats in a misguided effort to be politically correct and not offend Muslims.

The White House is intentionally misleading the world when the world desperately needs true, credible leadership.

Whether it is individuals answering the call to Jihad such as occurred in Oklahoma City, Queens, Ottawa and Sydney, or it is the work of trained, organized cells such as happened in Paris last week, we must wake up to the fact that terrorism in the name of Islam—Jihad—is a global threat.

Let’s face it, if you satirize Jesus Christ, Christians may protest or even boycott you. But if you satirize Mohammed, your life is in danger. There is no freedom of speech or freedom of expression in Islamic law—Shariah, the enemy threat doctrine.

Of course, here in the U.S., constitutionally protected free speech is meaningless if the government is derelict in protecting it by excusing the behavior of those intent on ending it. And the current administration has a shameful record when it comes to protecting free speech.

When Hillary Clinton asks, “What difference does it make?” THIS is the difference that it makes!