This argument inevitably follows the path of one side digging in their heels and proclaiming the platitide "They hate us for what we do", and the other side digging in their heels and proclaiming the platitude "They hate us for who we are".

That they are both right completely escapes them and just about everybody else, as the game of polemics MUST be played once the gauntlet is laid down. As people who think in black and white form their mutually exclusive dichotomies, they seem more intent on just battling each other than actually trying to understand much of anything at all.

Why not try thinking instead of just following the dogmatic script?