You may not be aware, but Nazis (both traditional and the neo variant) love dog whistles.

Obscure and hidden symbolism is core to their ideologies.

Nazis (and most hate groups in general) love doing things that are just innocent enough, but with a wink or a nudge, demonstrate clear intention.

It’s quite easy to not do a nazi salute and when public speaking, politicians (and people who practice their public speaking skills in general) have traditionally been coached on what features may be construed as, just look at the traditional ‘non-threatening’ two finger point.

Finally, I don’t think it really matters what it technically was or wasn’t, what matters is perception and reception.

Edit: I want to add some concrete examples of nazi dog whistling and symbolism.

Historically the numbers 88 have been used by neo Nazis to represent HH (8th letter of the alphabet) as a disguised way to say ‘heil Hitler’

The numbers on their own don’t mean anything, but given additional context, behaviors, or related ideals, then an additional meaning can be found.

This is often used as an intentional way to inform sympathizers to your position that you are on their side (for example a group at a political gathering) without overtly communicating your position to those opposed.

Another example is skinheads (not sharps) wearing and lacing their boots in a certain way with specific color laces.

Hitler himself was immensely into the occult and found hidden symbolism to be very powerful, it’s part of why he repurposed so much religious iconography.