The formal definition, adopted in Jerusalem in 1979, states that 'Terrorism is the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends.' In its choice of targets and its demands for legitimacy, terrorism breaks down the distinctions that define the moral limits of war: noncombatants are the targets, and all society is viewed as the enemy on ideological grounds. Although terrorism has existed throughout history, it rapidly grew in the 1960's, sparked by the early successes of Middle Eastern and European terrorist groups. State support by the Soviet bloc and the Arab world have increasingly made terrorism global in nature and given it its ideological foundations in communist totalitarianism and Islamic radicalism. State-supported terrorism has, in an age dominated by the threat of nuclear war, become increasingly useful as a means of waging war by proxy. As such, it is a weapon of great temptation, and terrorist attacks, primarily against the West, have increased tenfold in the last decade. Terrorism constitutes a growing threat which the democracies have failed to handle adequately.