Change.org petition evokes memories of Holocaust and urges leaders to act to deter future atrocities in 'Syria and elsewhere'

High-profile US rabbis and Jewish leaders are petitioning Congress to authorise President Barack Obama to use military strikes in response to Syria's use of chemical weapons.

Addressed to congressional leaders and signed on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the petition evokes memories of the Holocaust and urges leaders to act to "save thousands of lives" and to deter future atrocities in "Syria and elsewhere".

It says: "As a people who themselves once faced the horrors of genocide and survived, we had hoped that we would never again open our newspapers to images of mass graves filled with suffocated young children. Now that we have seen such images coming from Syria, we call upon you to act."

It describes the chemical weapons attack on the suburbs of Damascus as a "serious crime against humanity" that killed upwards of 1,400 people, including innocent women and children.

Signatories to the petition include Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, a conservative leader described by the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world; Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism; Rabbi Yosef Blau, a rabbinic leader of Yeshiva University; Jonathan Sarna, a prominent professor of Jewish history; Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author and Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America.

The petition, on change.org cites the intelligence assessments from the US, UK, France, Israel, Turkey, the Arab League and others as conclusive proof that the Assad regime was responsible for the August 21 attacks.

"We fear that if this attack passes without a decisive response, we might open our newspapers to more images of mass graves from Syria – and elsewhere – in the near future. We have learned from our own history that inaction and silence are the greatest enablers of human atrocity" it says.

It continues: "For this reason, we call upon you with great urgency to authorize the president to use force in Syria 'in connection with the use of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction,' as outlined in his August 31st draft legislation. Through this act, Congress has the capacity to save thousands of lives."

This week Obama has seen support for limited military attacks on Syria grow among American Jewish leaders and organisations. A statement by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, on Tuesday, said there was a "moral imperative" for the US to act, and agreed with the president's determination that America's "vital national security" interests are at stake.

The Republican Jewish Coalition sent an action alert on Tuesday to its 45,000 members directing them to urge Congress to authorise force in Syria. The RJC's opposite number, the National Jewish Democratic Council, has also called for military intervention as has the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations..

The president, who spoke to 1,000 rabbis in an annual conference call which took place last Friday, has said a military response is needed to uphold an international ban on the use of chemicals weapons and to deter Syria from using them again on his people or on neighbours such as Israel or Jordan.

The Guardian was unable to reach the petition's signatories on Thursday.

However, one signatory, Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss, who heads the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx, told WNYC radio in New York on Wednesday: "The Syrians have to hear a very, very clear message that this is going to be unacceptable to the world," he said.