Lest a wicked person think that the obligation to honor a king was said only regarding a Jewish king, during the period when we had kings, I will prove from our seforim that this is a mistake. There is no difference in this regard between a Jewish or a non-Jewish king. We are obligated by the Torah and by law to seek the welfare of the kingdom under which we live. And certainly we may not do anything against the government of the country. This is explicitly written in the verses, halachos and dinim of honoring the government. Let all Jews listen and fear this tremendous sin, for which the perpetrator will suffer in this world and the next, if he does anything or says anything against the monarch under which we live, Queen Maria Theresa, may she be exalted.
First of all, this rebel would be transgressing the oath that the Holy One, blessed is He, placed upon us during our exile when we live under the nations, not to rebel, Heaven forbid, in any way against the the government, as it is written in Shir Hashirim 2:7, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the deer of the fields…” Chazal expound this verse in Kesubos (111a): Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina said: The Holy One, blessed is He, placed upon us two oaths during exile, one that we may not go up as a wall, meaning that the Jewish people should not gather together to go up and conquer Eretz Yisroel, and the other that we may not rebel, that is, rebel against the government under which we live. And the Holy One, blessed is He, said, “If you keep the oaths, good, but if not, I will permit your flesh like the gazelles and deer of the field.” So Scripture declares ownerless the blood and flesh of anyone who has the audacity to rebel, Heaven forbid, against the government. And this was stated during our exile, when there is no Jewish king. (Printed in Kovetz Kerem Shlomo, year 16, Iyar 5753, p. 7)

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