This is juicy, and goes in the file of The Conflict Comes to Our Shores. Or, The Jewish Doctor Undergoes a Paradigm Shift.

Ten days ago, Jet Blue ordered a NY Jewish doctor named Lisa Rosenberg off a Palm Beach, Florida-JFK flight after she had words with a fellow passenger about Israel and Palestine.

The story was first reported by Palm Beach outlets as an anti-Semitic incident. WPBF TV:

Jewish woman says racism to blame for her removal from plane

The Palm Beach Post:

[Rosenberg] said she had just finished a phone conversation with a colleague when a woman said she was offended by Rosenberg’s remarks. “I was saying how it was good Israel found the students that killed the Palestinian teenager and how it was exemplary not making them into heroes, but seeking to publicly try them,” Rosenberg said. “I said any other country would have made these students out to be martyrs and celebrating them.”… Rosenberg said that after she finished her call, a woman approached her, identified herself as Palestinian and said she was offended by the conversation. Words were exchanged and Rosenberg was asked to leave the plane.

The JTA also gave Dr. Rosenberg credibility in its coverage–

“I just was completely outraged that I would be asked to leave a plane, being a Jew,” Rosenberg told ABC’s local affiliate in Palm Beach County.

Gothamist echoed Rosenberg’s story.

Then the Palestinian person involved in the event posted a comment at Gothamist that the story was incorrect.

Wildk9z George F • 3 days ago I’m the woman who told the doctor I was offended by her remarks. She was the only person yelling and actually said a Palestinian on the flight was a “danger to her”. She was removed from that flight for making a scene, refusing to sit in her seat and not complying with staff. Other passengers, if they come forward, will verify this.

By the way, Jet Blue was siding with the anonymous Palestinian. JTA reported:

“The story presented in no way reflects the reports from our crew, whose decision to remove the customer we support,” the airline said in a statement.



Steve Frischling, a professional traveler, then reported the incident in a thorough manner based on leaked documents:

The initial internal report and final internal reports, both filed prior to the Palm Beach Post story, which I have been able to read in their entirely, and then verify, both squarely paint Dr. Rosenberg as the sole instigator of the events on board Flight 454. Furthermore both internal reports of the incident clearly lay out Dr. Rosenberg as the person who was in the midst of spewing hateful comments towards the Palestinian passenger in seat 9C, not vise versa. The flight attendant’s reports states that the passengers in seats 12C and 11A were gesturing for her to quickly come to the front of the cabin during the boarding process, and began pleading with her to calm the situation between Dr. Rosenberg in seat 7E and the Palestinian woman in 9C. The official internal report goes on to state that the flight attendant witnessed Dr. Rosenberg accuse the woman in 9C of being a “Palestinian murderer” and that “ her people are all murders and that they murder children,” while Dr. Rosenberg was attempting move through the cabin and position herself physically closer to the woman in Seat 9C… Additional passengers on board Flight 454 continued to express concern for the their safety as Dr. Rosenberg continued to rant, even after being instructed by the flight attendant to cease her engagement with the woman in seat 9C, at which time the cabin crew requested a Complaint Resolution Official from the airline be contacted to board the aircraft, and Dr. Rosenberg was informed of FAM 2-13, G PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION, G.1 Race, Creed, or Colour, which says ” JetBlue provides equal service to all passengers regardless of race,creed, or colour.” Upon arrival of Jetblue’s Complaint Resolution Official the crew, including the Captain, needed to make a determination regarding regulation FAM 7-4, A.3.1 On The Ground,which lays out whether of not the removal of a passenger in necessary for the reasonable safety and comfort of other passengers.As the Complaint Resolution Official began to speak directly with Dr. Rosenberg, she began to not only continue to verbally attack the woman in seat 9C, but openly imply that the woman had explosives in her bag and intended to blow up the aircraft in flight…

Now the story has completely changed. The Forward has these headlines:

Jewish Doctor in JetBlue Drama Ousted for Launching Anti-Arab Gaza Bomb ‘Rant’

Official Reports Say Lisa Rosenberg Berated Palestinian

Reporter Rachel X. Landes casts Rosenberg as the bad actor:

A Jewish doctor who was ordered to leave a New York-bound JetBlue flight “ranted” at a Palestinian fellow passenger that she was a “murderer” who might blow up the flight, according to internal reports quoted on an airline security blog. Lisa Rosenberg, an obstetrician with an office in Queens, was ousted because she “made a racial slur at the (Palestinian) customer,” and that “customers seated in the immediate area expressed concern for their safety because of Dr. Rosenberg,” a flight attendant told investigators…. The flight attendant suggested Rosenberg was entirely to blame in the incident, which caused a ruckus but remarkably only led to the flight arriving a respectable four minutes late at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Rosenberg was removed from the plane because “of an atmosphere of fear in the cabin” that she had caused with her shouting and racial slurs towards the woman sitting just two rows behind her.

I think the story is significant because the 7E/9C argument is now everywhere in the U.S. and will be reflected more and more in the mainstream. And the argument is obviously a different one from the one we used to have. The Palestinian participant has the upper hand. Israel is becoming delegitimized; and its advocates are becoming desperate, afraid, and smashmouth.