It was recently brought to my attention that a R. Moshe Levi in Israel wrote a book on the laws of Shabbos titled Menuchas Ahavah with the commentary Mei Menuchos. He discussed the issue of the Talmudic permission to kill lice on Shabbos because they do not reproduce (i.e. they generate spontaneously), explained that they do reproduce and the Sages were incorrect, but defended the ruling for a different reason. After his book was published, he was evidently challenged on this. In the third edition of his book (published in 1992), he wrote a long defense of his view and had his mentor, someone with whom I am not familiar but goes by the name Ne'ema"n S"t (I believe the last abbreviation stands for Sephardi Tahor [Pure Sephardi]), write a brief approbation to which R. Ovadiah Yosef signed his agreement. Below is the text. Click on it to enlarge it.
