A prominent political scientist has been sacked from a top US university for criticizing the Zionist regime and questioning the Holocaust.

Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry and a professor of political sciences in DePaul University in Chicago, is being denied tenure at one of the country's top 10 private universities, The Guardian reported.

Finkelstein has argued in his books that claims of Semitism are used to dampen criticism of policies of the Zionist regime towards the Palestinians and that the Holocaust is exploited by some Jewish institutions for their own gain.

Reacting to the decision, Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, said, "They can deny me tenure, deny me the right to teach. But they will never stop me from saying what I believe."

Intellectuals such as the prolific writer Noam Chomsky and the Oxford historian Avi Shlaim have spoken out in Finkelstein's favor.

MKH/BGH