His father may have been an officer in an elite Israeli combat unit who went on to become prime minister, but that was not enough to save corporal Yair Netanyahu when he turned up late for duty.

Netanyahu, who is 19 years old and currently doing compulsory military service, was sentenced to 10 days confinement to base after reporting late to his Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesman's unit, the IDF said in a statement Thursday.

'The soldier exercised his right to appeal his punishment and his appeal was brought before an officer with the rank of full colonel, who decided to reduce his sentence and limit it to eight days' confinement,' the statement said.

'The IDF spokesman's unit relates to Corporal Netanyahu as it relates to any other soldier in the unit,' it added.