US can’t decide our friends - Rasool
Expelled South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, says South Africa should not allow Washington to decide which countries we should consider friends and enemies.
Rasool spoke outside Cape Town International Airport on Sunday after arriving back in the country.
He was booted out of the US for criticising President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has accused him of race-baiting - describing Rasool's remarks as obscene and lacking respect.
But Rasool believes his expulsion is because of South Africa's stance in taking Israel to the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza.
READ: Rasool welcomed back home after US expulsion
"We would have preferred to come here to say that we have won for you Agoa [African Growth and Opportunity Act] but we could not win it by withdrawing our case from the International Court of Justice against Israel.
"If South Africa was not in the ICJ, Israel would not be exposed, and the Palestinians would have no hope. Our relationship with America over 50 years has not always been with the White House. It has sometimes been with Congress, and it has always been with the people of the United States of America."
