Career
He migrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1939, the same year in which he joined Hashomer Hatzair. In 1961 he served on the Histadrut"s actions committee. In the same year he was elected to the Knesset on Mapam"s list.
He retained his seat in the 1965 elections, and was also voted onto Jerusalem"s City Council.
During the Knesset term Mapam joined the Alignment alliance. Despite losing his seat in the 1969 elections, Shem-Tov was appointed Minister without Portfolio in Golda Meir"s government in December 1969.
In July 1970 he became Minister of Health. When Yitzhak Rabin formed a new government in June 1974 following Meir"s resignation, he was also appointed Minister of Welfare, though he held the post only until October that year.
After being re-elected in 1984, Mapam broke away from the Alignment to sit as an independent party.
Shem-Tov resigned from the Knesset on 15 March 1988, and was replaced by Gadi Yatziv. Shem-Tov died on 8 March 2014 in Jerusalem, aged 99.