France is waking up.

Breitbart reports that “an Ifop poll for Le Figaro measuring perceptions of Islam has found that people have a growing sense of unease about its role in France.”

And well they should. What is different now is that people are actually saying it: “What’s notable about the results is that where once such sentiments were perceived as the preserve of the ‘extreme right’, they are now felt across the political spectrum. Back in 2010, 39 per cent of Socialist Party voters felt Islam was too prominent within French society — a majority of 52 per cent feel this to be the case six years on.”

Despite the smear, libel, and defamation that is directed toward anyone who dares any criticism of Islam, people across the political spectrum are voicing concern about an immigrant population that refuses to assimilate and instead seeks to impose its ready-made model of society and governance that they believe to be superior to that which France already has.

The elites will no longer be able to frame this as a “far-right” issue (what does that mean anyway — the Nazis were leftists: National Socialists). In Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, devout Muslims hack you to pieces if you criticize Islam. Here in the West, Islamic supremacists and their leftist lapdogs hack your name and your reputation to pieces. Hate groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) work feverishly to murder your good name.

The French paper Le Figaro says the poll confirms a “total rejection” of the religion in France, after its capital in 2015 saw two deadly jihad terror attacks. But it’s not just Brussels, Paris, Chattanooga, Garland, San Bernardino – it’s the burning cars, the vicious anti-semitism, the restrictions on our freedoms.

Any criticism of Islam is met with accusations of “islamofauxbia.” Islamic law forbids criticism of Islam, the Qur’an, and Muhammad. If they cannot be criticized in the United States, we are in effect accepting Islamic law as overriding the freedom of speech. This would establish Muslims as a protected class and prevent honest discussion of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism.

“Islamophobia”: this term amounts to little more than the enforcement of Sharia in the marketplace of ideas. Any criticism of jihad terror that examines its ideological roots in Islam is called Islamophobia. The word is used to intimidate people into thinking there is something wrong with opposing jihad terror.

Of course, such poll results are nevertheless met with these claims of “Islamophobia” and backlashophobia. According to Breitbart, “Anouar Kbibech, Chairman of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, responded to the survey’s results saying that negative perceptions of Islam cause distress to Muslims living in France.”

This is the knee-jerk response to every jihad attack and criticism of Islam. The Muslim community and the Muslim world never turn inward and say, “We must address all this slaughter and supremacism in the cause of Islam across the world. There is something in Islam that drives these wars, hatred, bigotry, and misogyny.”

No, never. Instead, we always get a defense of Islamic doctrine. Anouar Kbibech says that the French have to look upon Muslims as full citizens. Of course they are, which is why they have wreaked such havoc in that country. But what’s interesting is that Kbibech demands that which is denied to non-Muslims in Muslim countries. Non-Muslims in Muslim lands, according to Islamic law, must live as dhimmis, paying a special Qur’an-mandated tax (jizya) and suffering institutionalized, legalized discrimination, solely because they are non-Muslims.

If Muslims want to be welcomed into Western societies, they must accept our values and way of life and freedoms. Islam and Islamic government are a unique threat to free speech and liberty. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced. Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not bear being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed while everyone else lives in fear, while other groups curtail their activities to appease the violent group. This results in the violent group being able to tyrannize the others — which is what we are seeing in the West, with the Charlie Hebdo jihad murders, the attack on our free speech event in Garland, Texas, and more.

We will see the sentiments reflected in this poll spread across Europe and the West as Muslim populations grow, especially after this migratory onslaught. It won’t be pretty.

Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of PamelaGeller.com and author of The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter here. Like her on Facebook here.