It was billed as a fiery exchange between a Jew and a Palestinian that prompted JetBlue to boot Dr. Lisa Rosenberg, a Queens gynecologist, from a flight on July 7.
Turns out it was a fight between two New York Jews.
The ugly incident unfolded in Florida on Flight 454 bound for JFK when Rosenberg spoke loudly of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis on her cellphone before takeoff.
A fellow passenger claiming to be an offended Palestinian approached her, and the conflict escalated. In headline-grabbing accusations, Rosenberg claimed she was bounced by anti-Semitic crew members. JetBlue insisted she falsely implied the rival passenger was carrying a bomb.
In a confessional phone call to Rosenberg’s office last week, and in an interview with The Post, the fellow passenger revealed she is from Brooklyn and Jewish — even related to Menachem Begin, the late Israeli prime minister.
The woman, who did not give her name, explained she identified herself as Palestinian to stop Rosenberg’s “hate-filled diatribe” against Palestinians.
“I told you at the time I was Palestinian because I wanted you to stop your rant. If I said I was Jewish, you wouldn’t have stopped,” the woman told Rosenberg, who recorded the conversation. “I shouldn’t have said it, but I did.”
The woman also denied calling Rosenberg a “Zionist pig,” as the outraged doctor later told reporters. “I’m more Zionist than you’ll ever be,” she told Rosenberg. “My third cousin was Menachem Begin.”
She told The Post, “Like most people, I wish Israel and Palestine could find a way to coexist peacefully.”
Rosenberg insists she was simply praising Israel for arresting six citizens accused of torching a Palestinian teen in revenge for the murder of three Israeli teens, whose killers have not been caught. She also worried about her daughter’s upcoming trip to Israel.
But the Brooklyn woman said Rosenberg spoke about Palestinians in such a derogatory manner that “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
When the woman “quietly” objected, Rosenberg “turned on me like a pit bull,” the woman said. “ ‘You’re a child murderer and a danger to this plane,’ ” she quoted Rosenberg as saying.
JetBlue internal reports, obtained by aviation-security blogger Steven Frischling, say Rosenberg implied the passenger “had explosives in her bag and planned to blow up the aircraft in flight.”
Rosenberg flatly denies it. “If that was true, the plane should have been evacuated immediately by Homeland Security, or I should have been arrested,” she said. “They just escorted me off the plane and offered to re-ticket me for another flight.”
Rosenberg also denies she refused to stop protesting and sit down when a flight attendant asked her to do so.
JetBlue’s “complaint-resolution official” came aboard and told Rosenberg the crew felt she had to go. “When I asked to speak to the pilot, I was told, ‘Jews don’t make the rules on this plane,’ ” said Rosenberg, who is demanding an apology.
JetBlue spokeswoman Real Hamilton-Romeo disputed the account: “She was not asked to leave because she is Jewish. A person who doesn’t comply with safety instructions, exhibits objectionable behavior and causes conflict will be asked to leave. That decision is not made lightly.”