Joseph Ginat (Hebrew: יוסף גינת; March 6, 1936 – 2009) was an Israeli anthropologist, author, political advisor, and soldier.
Ginat fought in the battle of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967 and served as an aide-de-camp to General Moshe Dayan and a recognizant for the tank brigade.
He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Utah's Department of Anthropology in 1975 submitting a dissertation entitled "A Rural Arab Community in Israel: Marriage Patterns and Woman's Status."
[2] He served as a visiting professor at numerous other universities: Ginat was influential in Mormon history,[3] and developed personal relationships with several LDS Church presidents.
[3][4] Because this predated Theodor Hertzl, who is widely credited as being the father of modern Zionism, Ginat saw Hyde as having been the first Zionist, and went to great lengths to honor him as such.