In May, the House subcommittee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing: "Bad Medicine: Politics, Unions, and Antisemitism in Health Care," which focused on allegations of antisemitism and pro-Palestine activism becoming more prevalent in U.S. hospitals, medical schools, residency programs, and healthcare unions.

Cardiologist Dr. Jacob Agronin testified to how the Red-Green Alliance has infiltrated medical training and healthcare unions. Dr. Agronin alleged that his union is "engaging in systemic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli health providers, supporting terrorist sympathizers and making its obsession with a single geopolitical conflict a defining future of its identity." 

"A problem for every American who cares about the integrity of our medical institutions and our national security."

Dr. Jacob Agronin, an American Jewish cardiologist and union member of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), told the US Committee on Education and Workforce that his union supports terrorists and excludes Israeli workers from employment.

Dr. Agronin said that the union publicly supports terror sympathizers and formally endorses the exclusion of Israeli colleagues based on national origin.

Agronin decried his being forced by federal law into union membership, which funds CIR's campaigns targeted against Israel and his Jewish faith. 

With the assistance of America First Legal (AFL), Agronin filed a lawsuit against the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), an arm of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for the doctor to be exempted from union membership fees. On October 9, the union granted the exemption.

Dr. Jacob Agronin, a physician at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, secured the accommodation after America First Legal (AFL) brought the matter to the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1957, demanding that the union exempt the doctor from membership and fees.

AFL cited the union's stances on Israel, including endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and accusing the Jewish state of apartheid and genocide.

CIR’s collective bargaining agreement with Temple University Hospital required employees covered by the agreement to join the union or pay agency fees, according to AFL.

"[Agronin] wasn't objecting to the union's right to political speech," Megan Redshaw, counsel for AFL, told Fox News Digital. "The union can have whatever views it wants to have. However, when the union imposes its views in the workplace and that affects the people that work at that organization, that institution, or that hospital, this becomes a Title VII issue."

Redshaw said Agronin believed financially supporting the union in any capacity would violate his religious beliefs, even if payments supporting political activities were excluded.

CIR has a recorded history of statements and resolutions which align with pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist causes. As AFL pointed out, labor unions have every right to engage in political and social advocacy. However, they are not allowed to violate their members' legal and constitutional rights in their pursuit of said advocacy and action.

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In May 2024, CIR adopted two resolutions regarding Israel: "Housestaff for Human Rights" and "Housestaff Against Apartheid."

The union stated that the first resolution "set standards to ensure CIR will not endorse candidates who accept donations from the Israel lobby or who otherwise support genocide and apartheid" and the second resolution called for a permanent ceasefire and the end of military aid to Israel. Additionally, according to the union, the "Housestaff Against Apartheid" resolution also "uplifted" the BDS movement.

On Nov. 7, 2023, one month after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, CIR released a statement saying it was "appalled and shocked by the recent violence in Israel and Palestine." The union said it mourned the lives lost in the Oct. 7 attacks and those lost in the subsequent violence.

In its statement, CIR called on the Biden administration and Congress to help restore access to food, water, electricity, housing and healthcare in Gaza and ensure the release of the hostages and "Palestinians detained in Israel without due process." It also urged the administration and Congress to "call for an immediate ceasefire."

AFL counsel Megan Redshaw asserted that this could set a precedent for other physicians who are also seeking such exemptions.

"Most people believe that in requesting religious accommodation, you're just going to get an accommodation from the fees that are taken out for these political or ideological causes, or they think that that fee that's taken out has to go to a charity, usually of CIR's choosing," she told Fox News Digital. 

"Which is nefarious in and of itself, because the union can just choose a charity that perpetuates its causes that it believes in and transfer your money there," Redshaw added. 

"But the reality of this situation is that, depending on the state that you're in, you can request a full religious accommodation. You can object to being a member of the union as a whole."