Operating under the aegis of the WZO are organizations that define themselves as Zionist, such as WIZO, Hadassah, B'nai B'rith, Maccabi, the International Sephardic Federation, the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), and more.

The ZO served as an umbrella organization for the Zionist movement, whose objective was the creation of a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael – at that time under the Ottoman Empire and following the First World War, the British Mandate of Palestine.

When the State of Israel was declared 51 years later on May 14, 1948, many of its new administrative institutions were already in place, having evolved during the regular Zionist Congresses of the previous decades.

He compared this move to the decision of the Mizrachi movement to join the WZO [over one hundred years ago] which was the deciding factor in their separation from "authentic Torah Judaism.

[21] A document brought before Israel's Supreme Court in 2009 showed that private Palestinian land was taken and given to Israeli settlers by the World Zionist Organization.

The World Zionist Organization had been acting as an agent of the government in assigning land to Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied territories.

The Israeli government, to avoid responsibilities under international law, used the World Zionist Organization to settle its citizens in the territory occupied in 1967.

[23][24] The Board of Deputies of British Jews sent an open letter to the WZO demanding an "explanation and calling for urgent remedial action" over the violent harassment.