Located north of Tiberias on Highway 90, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council.

[1] In the first century AD there was a flourishing town known by Greek and Latin speakers as Gennesaret, with one single mention in the New Testament (Matthew 14:34), for which but a few papyri use the form "Gennesar".

Ginosar was founded on the eve of Purim in March 1937 by a group of young Socialist Zionists, on Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA) land that had been leased to the settlement of Migdal.

The reason given for "squatting" was that the leased area needed close protection during the "disturbances" (1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine).

[2] The original was built as a "Tower and Stockade" settlement, was closely aligned with the Mapai party,[3] and was the home of Yigal Allon, commander of the "Syrian Department" of the Palmach, and later a senior minister in the government of Israel.