(JNS.org) Both the White House and State Department confirmed that the U.S. has been withholding information from Israel concerning the nuclear talks with Iran. “The United States is not going to be in a position of negotiating this agreement in public, particularly when we see that there is a continued practice of cherry-picking specific pieces of information and using them out of context to distort the negotiating position of the United States,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

An earlier report by Israel’s Channel 2 network had said that the U.S. was withholding information on the Iran talks in order to “punish” Israel. Earnest said, “There’s no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate.”

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “It’s safe to say that not everything you’re hearing from the Israeli government is an accurate reflection of the details of the talks.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, Feb. 19 that Israel “knows the details of the proposed agreement” on Iran’s nuclear program. “I think this is a bad agreement that is dangerous for the State of Israel… If anyone thinks otherwise, what is there to hide here?” he said.