Simply put, a dog whistle is a coded message hidden within a seemingly ordinary word, phrase, or number.

In the context of antisemitism, dog whistles are used by antisemites to communicate with one another using language that appears harmless to outsiders—but carries a hidden, hateful meaning to those “in the know.”

Just like only dogs can hear a real dog whistle, only those familiar with the code can understand what’s truly being said.

This tactic serves multiple purposes:

It allows bigots to bypass content moderation on social platforms. It enables them to covertly threaten or intimidate Jewish individuals without drawing attention. It makes the hate difficult to call out—because to the untrained eye, it seems benign.

This creates an environment where bigoted messages can spread while staying under the radar—often unnoticed by those who haven’t been educated on these tactics.

Worse still, it opens the door to manipulation and gaslighting. When called out, the person using the dog whistle can feign innocence, saying things like, “How could this possibly be offensive?”—deflecting blame and avoiding accountability.

Dogwhistles.org is Jewish founded, led, and run.

No, anti-zionism is not inherently antisemitic. Despite a campaign by the Israeli government and other interested parties in designating anti-zionism as a form of antisemitism, the empirical evidence does not support this conclusion.

As with any ideology, there are those who are believers in anti-zionism who happen to be antisemitic. Conflating the two, however, is fallacious and ahistorical.

Dogwhistles.org is entirely funded by community support.

We do not accept money that comes with strings attached—especially from governments or organizations with vested political interests. Our independence and integrity are essential to our mission, and it’s your support that keeps our work honest, transparent, and accountable.

No, not all Christians are antisemitic.

However, due to the long history of antisemitism within the Christian tradition, acknowledging and highlighting specific dogwhistles and theories utilized specifically within the Christian community is vital in fighting against hate.

No.

Palestinian symbols like the keffiyeh, watermelon, tatreez, keys, Handala, etc, are not inherently antisemitic. The movement to label them as such is motivated by the same movement which seeks to label anti-zionism as inherently antisemitic.