Ephraim Sneh was born in Tel Aviv in 1944.
He has an M.D. from Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine, and he was a Research Fellow at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Ephraim Sneh served as a career officer in the IDF until 1987 reaching the rank of Brigadier-General. He began his military career as a Medical Officer in the Paratroops Brigade. In 1974, he became Chief Medical Officer of the Paratroops and Infantry Corps. He was Commander of the Medical Teams during the Entebbe Rescue Operation in 1976. In 1980, Ephraim Sneh was promoted to Chief Medical Officer of the IDF Northern Command, and the following year became Commander of the Security Zone in South Lebanon. Between 1985-1987, he served as Head of the Civil Administration of the West Bank.
Ephraim Sneh is a member of the Labor Party. In 1992 he was elected to the Knesset and served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Sneh served as Minister of Health from June 1993 until 1996. From 1996-1999 he was a member of the Knesset State Control and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees.
He served as Deputy Minister of Defense from August 1999 until March 2001.
Ephraim Sneh served as Minister of Transportation from March 2001 until October 2002, when he resigned from the government together with the other Labor ministers.
In the 16th Knesset he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee for Security Perception, and member of the Knesset House Committee, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and the Diaspora.