Eli Ben-Menachem was born in Bombay, India in 1947.
He studied at the IDF Military Academy as an aircraft technician.
Ben-Menachem has served as Director of the Department of Neighborhoods and Development Towns in the Labor Party Central Committee. He was a former chairman of the 13 largest works committees in Israel, the El Al Workers Union and the Tel-Aviv Neighborhood Forum.
He has been a Member of Knesset since 1988. In the 14th Knesset he chaired the Anti-Drug Abuse Committee. He also served as a member of various Knesset committees, among them the Knesset, Finance, Labor and Welfare, Foreign Workers, and State Control Committees.
From August 1992 until April 1993 Ben-Menachem served as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and from April 1993 until June 1996 as Deputy Minister of Housing and Construction. He also served as Deputy Minister of Industry from March 2001 until October 2002.
Eli Ben-Menachem served as Deputy Minister of Housing and Construction from January to November 2005, when Labor resigned from the government.
He is married and has three children.