EXCLUSIVE: Jewish physician wins religious exemption from union membership and fees over Israel stances

A Jewish doctor has been granted an exemption from union membership and fees after he challenged a requirement to financially support a union that he said violated his religious beliefs.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.NATION’S LARGEST TEACHERS UNION UNDER FIRE AS CONTROVERSIAL AGENDA PUTS CENTURY-OLD FEDERAL CHARTER AT RISKA Temple University Hospital physician was granted a religious exemption from union membership and fees.

(Jessica Kourkounis/Reuters)"[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.The union confirmed in an Oct.9 letter that it had granted the accommodation and that Agronin had neither signed a membership card nor paid dues."No fees will be taken out of his paycheck, his employer will honor that, and he does not have to be a member of the union at all," Redshaw told Fox News Digital.

She also explained that Agronin’s request cit...