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Netanyahu’s Dog Whistle
Toward the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech today, he said:
Facing me right up there in the gallery, overlooking all of us in this (inaudible) chamber is the image of Moses. Moses led our people from slavery to the gates of the Promised Land.
He continued:
And before the people of Israel entered the land of Israel, Moses gave us a message that has steeled our resolve for thousands of years. I leave you with his message today, (SPEAKING IN HEBREW), “Be strong and resolute, neither fear nor dread them.”
The idea of a “dog whistle” in political rhetoric is that the speaker uses language that will be understood only by his or her supporters. To the outside observer, meanwhile, the speaker’s meaning is innocuous. Netanyahu’s biblical reference was a dog whistle.
To understand it, consider when Moses spoke those words. It was just before Moses left the people and went off to die, when Joshua was to take over leadership. I believe that Netanyahu expects to lose the election in a few weeks.
This brings to mind another Israeli prime minister: Menachem Begin. Begin was facing an election in 1981, and expected to lose. Meanwhile, intelligence indicated that Saddam Hussein was about to break out with nuclear capability. The cabinet was debating a military strike on the Osirak reactor. Begin’s opponent in the election, Shimon Peres, was a member of the cabinet and was adamantly opposed to a strike.
And so Begin, expecting to lose, and fearing that Peres would not do what needed to be done, ordered the daring air strike that destroyed Saddam’s reactors.
In the event, Begin won the election. He was accused of ordering the strike to boost himself politically. But later the truth came out — a truth that Netanyahu knows, and must be pondering as his electoral opponents pillory him for souring relations with the US.
Published in General
It is, when it comes to clear violations of our Code of Conduct. Beyond that, I figure that if I start thinking He speaks through me, I’m getting rather confused. Nothing that in any way had the attributes anyone would imagine of when he or she though of God–or Gods–in any religious tradition, ever, in history–would naturally think, “Claire. Now is the time to make my nature and my will known through Claire. On Ricochet.”
No matter which way you look at it, it just doesn’t make any sense that He’d do it that way.
Much more likely he’d be telling me, “Shut up and let me run things. You do your job, I’ll do mine. Do not get confused about who’s in charge. I am.”
Or even to go out on some huge theological limb–“we are.”
Even if I go with a full-on “I am God” kind of theology, that just leaves me with, “Like everyone else.”
Right? I figure so. So there’s no way my responsibility here could be to speak for God. That just makes no sense. I’m handling CoC violations.
If anyone’s got a good argument for thinking “Claire speaks for God,” of course, feel free to make it. As long as you don’t violate the Code of Conduct.
I think your use of the phrase dog whistle is terrible, not least because that phrase is almost never used in America without meaning someone’s racist. The name for this kind of rhetoric, when one does not mean quite what one says, or only that, is irony.
Now, on to your mistakes. First, you make no argument that most of his supporters really would get the point. Secondly, the point he is making is not too obvious–the use he makes of the Moses story & the exhortation– whereas, thirdly, he much more obviously threatened war & that Israel would go to war alone. In short, it’s unclear what it is, but at least do the work to show that it’s efficient & that it is necessary. Who is his specific intended audience when he impersonates Moses?
I do not believe Mr. Netanyahu added Moses to his speech unwittingly; & who thinks him incapable of subtlety does not know him; nor do I believe it is an accident that he left it for the ending unwittingly–this exhortation enhances the war message. But I am not sure what he meant to say beyond the obvious.
I agree that fear of a coming defeat is a good suggestion. But it requires evidence. I agree that he is comparing himself to Moses, proposing to do what Moses did. But with this difference: He rules the promised land, so to speak, whereas Moses did not. Surely, that makes a difference–defense versus invasion.
This was also my understanding of SoS’s point.
This was also my understanding of SoS’s point.
Ricochet, why so weird?? Apologies, all, for the double post. I don’t know how it happened!
Claire, were you looking for room 12? This is 12A.
The “dog whistle” is becoming popular with modern writers–I just came across it in the last book I worked on.
It means a whistle that only one dog can hear, right?
Netanyahu’s mentioning of Moses was poignant and not melodramatic.
I thought SoS’s use of “dog whistle” in that sense was exactly right.
I also don’t think the reference to a dog was disrespectful in any way.
I have had two dogs that I loved deeply. My daughter is in vet school, and she just lost her golden retriever to cancer. There’s a lot of loss being felt here at the moment.
Dogs are really special creatures, and having had to console my children on three occasions, there’s no question in my mind that there is a heaven for dogs. Like human beings, dogs are too complex for me to believe that they evolved out of mud puddles.
I know a lot about dogs, but I did not understand the possible meaning of Netanyahu’s allusion to Moses.
I thought SoS’s post was thoughtful, interesting, and possibly an accurate interpretation, just from knowing the little bit about Netanyahu that I know. No matter how encouraging the polls are at the moment, he would not take his victory in the next election for granted.
I don’t see that that changes its political meaning. Calling white GOP voters & politicians racists by way of the ‘dog whistle’ line is rather recent, no? I wish all the best to everyone trying to change the association in the public mind…
I’m not sure what this has to do with what was discussed. Could you elaborate?
There is another problem with his understanding of the phrase: A dog whistle is heard by dogs, but not people. To people, it is as nothing. Now, the reason liberals & others use this about their political adversaries is to say, what they say is a mere nothing, all that matters is what they mean. The apparent meaning & the true meaning are radically dissociated. You could say, liberals are saying that the effective truth of conservative speeches is racist action–that they should be judged by their actions, not their speeches. This allows them to escape the burden of debating, say, school choice… Now, no one here is saying that Mr. Netanyahu did not mean what he said, just that there is a deeper meaning connected to the apparent meaning. As for my more serious criticism, see mine above.
Unfortunately, no politician or political speech refers to dog whistle because dogs are oh, so lovable. That would be a better world, in all.
I’m sorry. I’m having trouble explaining my thoughts here.
What I meant was that Netanyahu used a “dog whistle” instead of dramatically throwing himself on the podium and saying, “All IS LOST FOREVER. YOU HAVE TO DO SUCH-AND-SUCH.” His use of a dog whistle instead of melodrama was really cool.
One has to have viewed video of Hitler to understand a world leader of Netanyahu’s age eschewing drama.
Netanyahu was being respectful, subtle, treating his audience with comradarie, not as some sort of nutcase but as a friend.
He used a “dog whistle,” not a threat.
Like a dog, I am running around in circles. :)
SoS’s heading and post were perfect.
I do not have the brain power to allay people’s concerns here.
I’m just saying the point SoS was making was well made.
Maybe we could say “coded message” instead of “dog whistle” since the latter is definitely seen as negative?
Yes, something like that. Terrible secret might work. Astounding concealed thought? Hidden heart? Invisible mind? I’m afraid I do not have any useful thing to say on this matter.
Works for me. I put up the post pretty quickly, so I’m sure my choice of metaphor could be improved upon.
I’m taking one more stab at this before I throw up my hands in despair:
It was a “dog whistle” in the sense that it was said as a normal biblical allusion to most people who would be listening. But it was meant to say to a few in the audience who would understand it, “I may not be here in the future.”
That’s why the allusion to a “dog whistle” was right.
It was the perfect term to describe what Netanyahu was doing.
In the sense that only some will “hear,” yes, but Titus is correct about the term’s having other connotations.
There was another gent a few thousand years ago from the same cultural background who stated it on the order of, “Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
I’ll have to take a refresher course in sensitivity training. :)
Too funny.
But honestly, “Those who . . . hear” would have been more grandiose than the reference to Moses was intended to be.
Besides, he’s Jewish, not Christian.
Jimminy.
I watched the speech and was stumped, when he went there.
Electoral predictions, or anticipation of attack that would not be thwarted by the current administration completely aside, I think SoS offers an insight that I would never have gleaned on my own.
I am neither dense, nor religiously illiterate, but I could not understand the significance of Netanyahu’s digression. It seemed, to me, that there was intended significance.
I have seen no comments that dissuade me from believing he meant something with that digression.
This thread turned out to be pretty funny, as discussions go. :)
In my experience, the vast majority of secular Israelis have at least a passing familiarity with the basic Exodus narrative if they were educated here. It’s even more basic than Shakespeare is to the English. Certainly the Passover story is taught in the vast majority of kindergartens and nursery schools.