Actor Viggo Mortensen, who became a major Hollywood name with his performance as Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, blasted Israel in an interview The Daily Beast published Saturday.

He accused Israel of engaging in terror and complained about a double standard in the media.

The actor asserted, "No one in the media seems to have a problem with anyone criticizing Palestinian terrorism, but if anyone dares express any objection to the Israeli government's acts of state terrorism against Palestinian civilians, one is rapidly vilified and censored."

Mortensen, 55, whose latest film "The Two Faces of January" opened in Israel in September, was among the dozens of artists who signed the Toronto Declaration, which condemned the Toronto Film Festival for selecting Tel Aviv as the subject of its inaugural City-to-City Spotlight event because of Israel's actions in Gaza and settlement policy in the West Bank.

He bemoaned in the interview that not much progress had been made over the past five years since the declaration. "Sadly, very little has changed in terms of the free rein that the government of Israel is given by the U.S. and other influential governments in terms of their handling of the Palestinian question," he said.